Panoply of Fear
by Aggie Escott
Summary: The team travel to Georgia State to help stop an epidemic. What could possibly go wrong? Well, just about everything if Aaron and Spence are there! Please review, make a girl happy! Kplus to start with. It may go up in later chapters.
1. Medical Investigation

**A/N New fic starts here. This first chapter is a little shorter than usual, but it ends in the right place, and any more words would be waffle.  
Please review, let me know if I should carry on with this. Thank you Luvvies.**

**PANOPLY OF FEAR  
**Chapter 1  
Medical Investigation

_**Mother Teresa of Calcutta said, "The biggest disease today is not leprosy or tuberculosis, but rather the feeling of being unwanted**_

_**  
**_Aaron Hotchner was exhausted. Since coming back to work after his abduction, he never seemed to have quite enough energy to last to the end of the day. So far there hadn't been any cases. He wasn't sure how he would manage if he had to miss out on a night's sleep. ProPlus, probably, and lots of coffee. Not very good for a unit chief. He stood up and crossed to the window and stood with his hands in his pockets, watching his team as they worked. Reid seemed to be ok. He had recovered from a particularly nasty gun shot wound, and apart from getting breathless sometimes if he had to run, he was fine now.

Or so he said. Reid always knew what answers were the right ones to give. He would never volunteer information that would put him in less than perfect favourable light with his boss. Hotch noticed he didn't shower at work any more. Maybe the scarring was bad. Reid was sitting at Emily's desk, and he looked up at Hotch at that moment and gave him a brilliant smile. Aaron smiled back – a tiny twitch at the corner of his mouth. Reid was saying something to Emily, but he couldn't make out what it was. Still grinning, Reid turned back to his work. Aaron had noticed that he and Emily spending a lot of time together now. He sighed and slowly walked back to his desk and sat down with his head in his hands. He had thought at one point that he and Emily...

_Ah well. Guess the best man won that one..._

He opened the bottom drawer of his desk and took out a small bottle of Scotch. He looked at it for a moment, just trying to decide whether to or not, when there was a knock at the door. He jumped guiltily and closed the drawer a little quicker than was necessary.

"Come in!"

"We have a case." Jareau said.

-0-0-0-

Sitting at the table with his team, Aaron suddenly felt better. At Jareau's words, he had felt a rush of excitement. Maybe it was the inactivity making him tired. Whatever it was bringing him down, he felt ready for this.

David Rossi was the last one in. He was still walking with a stick, and given the nature of his injuries, Hotch was impressed that he could even walk at all. Dave had bought Reid, Aaron and himself tickets for a fortnight in Naples. It had taken a bit of persuasion to get Strauss to agree, but a tweak of his little finger, and she had come round. They were going in three weeks time.

Two weeks in a beautiful country with Dave and Spence. That was going to be fun! Aaron had never felt so ready for a holiday in his life. That last case he had almost died, they had told him. In fact, he had died for a few moments on several occasions, and it had been touch and go. Dave and Spence had sustained severe injuries too.

It had been a bad case. It still hurt to lie on his back, and if he stood in the wind, his face hurt where it had been plated. His hair was just growing back over the scar on the back of his head, and his cracked shin hurt all the time.

Aaron waited until Dave had painfully taken his seat, and he nodded to Jareau.

-0-0-0-

"Scientists at the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia, have been trying to create a vaccine for Ebola." Jareau began, ignoring the puzzled looks on the faces in front of her. "Thousands of people in Africa have died of it in recent years, but it burns itself out very quickly – it tends to kill the host before it has a chance to spread. The biggest fear they have is that a strain will emerge that will spread, and with no vaccine, it will grow to pandemic proportions and ninety percent of the world's population could be dead within a week. They have had encouraging results with mice, and were now starting to work with primates."

"Wait a minute!" Morgan interrupted. "We aren't medical Investigators!"

Hotch raised his hand to silence him and nodded at Jareau to continue. Morgan scowled at Hotch but said nothing.

"The monkeys had been injected with a new strain of the disease. They were trying to find a vaccine for it, which would work on all haemorrhagic fevers, and they wanted to be ready with it as soon as there was an outbreak." She said to the horrified team. "Someone has stolen one of the monkeys, named Maureen, and is using it in a terror campaign."

"Is the monkey contagious?" Emily asked.

"They aren't certain." Jareau answered. "The virus is only transmitted by droplet or via body fluids. So a bite would probably prove fatal. But the nature of this particular virus is that it can metamorphose into pathogens with other methods of transmission."

"Who has asked for us?" Hotch said. "The PD?"

"No, it's the Centre for Disease Control. Epidemiologist Doctor Jean Page. She's in charge. She is desperate for all the help she can get. This could possibly lead to pandemic proportions. We need to get this UnSub before he uses Maureen to kill."

"Maureen?" Morgan frowned. "Maureen the monkey?" No body laughed.

Hotch stood up. "Ok, JJ. Please inform Doctor Page we will take the case. Wheels up in thirty minutes. JJ, please get us all copies of everything you have, we'll continue this on the jet. Garcia, you too. This is going to need all of us."

The team dispersed quickly, except Dave.

"Not sure you'll want me on this, Aaron." He said. "I'm really not up to scratch." He lifted his stick up to emphasise the point.

"You don't get off that easily, David." Hotch said. "But I promise I won't send you off to chase the UnSub!"

Dave smiled. He would have hated to be left behind on this. "I can trip them up." He grinned, and hobbled out to get his bag.

-0-0-0-

The list of symptoms didn't make for happy reading. Just the initial flu like symptoms were bad enough, but the secondary symptoms were horrific. The team sat silently on the jet taking in the knowledge, and wishing that they didn't have to.

"It sounds like something made up for one of Garcia's films." Emily said. "It's horrible."

"My films are never this bad. You couldn't make this up!"

"The two thousand and one outbreak in the Sudan reported four hundred and twenty five cases, two hundred and twenty six of whom died." Reid said unemotionally, without looking up.

Emily stared at him, horrified. "Over fifty percent death rate!"

"In two thousand three, a hundred and twenty eight out of a hundred and forty two died."

"Oh my god! That's erm..."

"Ninety point one percent death rate."

"Right!" Hotch interjected before his team got carried away with terrifying statistics. "Let's look at the terrorist communications."

He watched as the team members found the page in their notes.

"They have threatened to release the virus in a poor area." Jareau said. "To 'abolish poverty' they say."

"They haven't specified an area." Reid said, still without looking up. Hotch started to watch him carefully. Reid was often reticent. Hotch wasn't sure if he was being less forthcoming than usual, or if it was just his imagination.

"What are their demands?" Morgan asked, breaking into Aaron's thoughts.

"There are no demands." Jareau said. "They are going to do it 'for the good of America'."

"Oh my god!" Garcia breathed.

"Have they given us a time frame?" Emily asked.

"No." Hotch said, reading from the notes, "It will take several days to extract the virus. Unfortunately, they have had three days already; Maureen was stolen last Friday, and the theft wasn't discovered until Monday morning."

"Any Security tapes?" Garcia asked.

"Plenty. But apparently you don't get to see their faces." Jareau answered.

"I should imagine Pen would like a look at those tapes." Emily said.

"I sure would." Garcia said. "First thing, if that's ok. If there's anything to find, I'll find it."

"Thank you Garcia." Hotch said. "When we land, I want us to get straight on it. Dave, you come with me and we'll take a look at the labs. Reid and Morgan, see what you can find on fringe human rights groups operating locally, and possibly animal rights groups, although that is less likely. JJ and Emily, chat with Dr Page and the police, draw up a list of possible target areas. We're coming into land. As soon as we can, get out to your assignments. This is extremely urgent. A lot of lives could depend on us today."

Aaron realised that he had split Spencer and Emily up. He couldn't say it wasn't deliberate. Subconsciously it may have been. He didn't want them to think he was being jealous or petty. He was sad about it, yes, but not jealous. He was fond of both of them. He liked to see his friends happy. He thought of changing the assignments, but that would draw attention to it. Annoyed with himself, he decided that the next assignment pairing, he would put them together, or he would work with one of them.

Damn it! Why did things have to be so complicated? Why did it feel as if his life was always going to hell in a hand basket?

He clipped the strap across his abdomen and sighed. The emotion in Aaron's eyes was not lost on Dave. As he fastened his seat belt he made a mental note to follow it up later.

Someone had to watch the watcher.

The team members put their notes away, and assumed landing position. There was a lot of adrenalin flowing, all seven members eager to get to work.


	2. The Labs

**PANOPLY OF FEAR  
**Chapter 2  
The Labs

_**"Animal studies can neither prove nor guarantee the safety of any drug. They are not a substitute for testing in humans".--J Jennings, Vice President Science & Technology of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association. **_

Aaron had never been more relieved to get off the plane. There was an oppressive atmosphere on the jet today; he guessed it was just how he felt, as no one else seemed to be having trouble. Or it could be the case itself. Jareau had called ahead, and two SUV's were waiting for them. Dave and Aaron took one to visit the labs. Emily went with them, so she could interview Dr Page. The others were driven to the police HQ, where they were going to be provided with space to work.

Emily sat very quietly in the back of the car. She had a lot to say to Aaron. When he was so ill, and she thought she was going to lose him, she was ready to tell him how she felt. But now, back at work and everything 'normal' again, it seemed too hard. It could go two ways, and the 'utterly horrified' option would be too awful, and the possibility of that happening made her afraid to tell him. There was a time that she wouldn't have thought this could ever happen to her – JJ being closer to her type. But this man had turned her head, and she couldn't get him off her mind. She sat in the back of the car and looked at the back of his head, the thick dark hair that the sun caught through the window, rich and glossy, the way it grew into a point on the nape of his neck, and she longed to touch his hair, and kiss the back of his neck.

She blinked and looked out of the window. If she stared at him for much longer, she could do something that she would regret. There would be a chance soon to tell him. She promised herself that she would talk to him before they flew back to Quantico.

Hotch turned the car off the road and drove up a long curved drive edged with trees. Beyond the trees were landscaped gardens, just random enough to look natural, but not untidy. The drive opened up into a forecourt with a circular drive and a fountain in the centre. A huge house that had once been the home of an English lord who wanted to recreate a piece of his home land. It now housed the labs of the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention. The work here was supposed to be secret. How the knowledge of what went on here got out, was one of the things that Aaron wanted to talk about. The best way to do that, he had learned, was to chat to the staff. That is what he and Dave were going to do.

He parked in front of the doors, and they got out of the car. Dave grinned at the facade of the house. He almost expected a line of servants to greet them, and a butler to conduct them to the drawing room.

There was a speaker next to the door and a pad of buttons numbered zero to nine, and one marked 'call'. This was the one that Aaron pressed.

"Please note, no one will be admitted without an appointment." The speaker said. "Please state your name and that of whom you are visiting."

"SSA Aaron Hotchner, FBI, with SSA David Rossi and SSA Emily Prentiss. We are here to see Doctor Jean Page."

There was no answer from the Speaker, but there was a buzz, a click, and the door in front of them swung inwards. Hotch pushed open the door and they entered.

The similarity between an English Stately Home ended at the door. Inside there were no original features left, just white paint and flat walls. The owner of the greeting voice was sitting on the other side of a desk made of chrome and highly polished wood. Hotch stepped forwards and extended a hand.

"Please wait in the waiting area to your right." The woman said. Hotch withdrew his hand self consciously and the three agents went and sat down on the rather uncomfortable chairs. They had clearly been chosen for their aesthetic appeal rather than comfort. Emily picked up a Tattler magazine, while Dave stood in front of a painting that had likely cost a lot more than it was worth. Yellow with an orange circle slightly off centre, and an orange rectangle near the bottom.

"Rothko." said Dave. "Original, I think."

Aaron looked across at the 'art'. The word he would have used to describe the yellow and orange painting would have been 'Rubbish'. How anyone could...

"You are right, Agent." A voice from behind him said. "It was painted in nineteen fifty three, before the Seagram fiasco."

Hotch stood up and turned to face the woman. "SSA Aaron Hotchner." He said, extending his hand again. "This is SSA Emily Prentiss, and the art expert is SSA David Rossi."

The woman smiled disarmingly, and shook Aaron's hand.

"Jean Page." She said, her smile disappearing as quickly as it came. She was a short plump woman, and had a 'mumsy' look about her; as if she should be in the kitchen baking cakes rather than studying disease epidemics

"I expect you have questions. Please follow me to my office."

The three agents followed the woman through the white corridors to a nice sized office at back of the house. Jean Page sat behind her old mahogany desk, incongruous in the white utilitarian room. Emily sat opposite her, Aaron and Dave remained standing.

"We would like to take a look at the labs and security systems please, while Agent Prentiss asks you a few questions." Aaron said. "We'd like to get a feel of the place."

"Profile my labs?" she said. Aaron wasn't sure if she was amused or annoyed. He hoped Emily would be better at profiling her than he was. He didn't know where to start with Dr. Page. "I'll call Edward, the head technician, to show you round."

She picked up the phone and called the lab. After she put the phone down, she crossed the room to a coffee filter machine.

"Coffee?" she asked. Dave and Aaron declined. They just wanted to get cracking and see the place from where Maureen had been taken. Emily said she would have coffee. Jean poured two cups of coffee, and added milk to both and sugar to her own.

"I know I shouldn't." She said. "But there's little enough to keep me smiling on this job." She handed Emily a cup. "Ah, Edward!" she said as a man of about thirty came into the office. He was an odd character, tall and thin with curly hair in a dark halo around this head. He was slightly stooped, and that made him look a bit dim. His face was intelligent though, and he shook their hands vigorously.

"Have you come to find out who took Maureen? "He asked. "She is a very valuable monkey. We will be glad when we have her back."

"We will certainly do our best." Hotch said shaking his hand. "Please would you show us the labs while our colleague chats with Doctor Page here?"

"Certainly." He said. "Please follow me." Dave and Aaron followed Edward out into the corridor to a lift.

The labs looked as if they'd never been worked in. Everything was shiny white and pristine. There were some technicians working at the benches, and there were a stack of cages at the far end of the room containing monkeys of various species.

"What species is Maureen?" asked Dave as they crossed the lab.

"Maureen is a spider monkey. We chose that species because they react in an almost identical way to humans to the Ebola virus." While he was talking he had put his fingers through the bars of the cage and was scratching a small monkey on the head. The creature was clearly enjoying it.

"And can you show us where Maureen was taken from?" Dave asked.

"Certainly." Edward said. "This way, through here."

Edward led the agents through a door at the back of the room, which he opened with a swipe card.

"Who else has one of these cards?" Aaron asked.

"Apart from me, only the directors." He said. "I keep the card with me all the time; no one could use it without my knowledge."

"May I?" Aaron said, and he put his hand out for the card. "Where do these come from?"

"A security firm makes them. Secur-a-Dor they are called. There's their logo." Edward pointed to a picture of a letter D with an S curled around it. Dave got out his note book and jotted down the company name and address. Aaron handed the card back.

"Thank you. Now may we see the crime scene please?"

They followed Edward through the door into a windowless room. Cages were along the right hand wall and a long bench was along the opposite side. Under the bench was a row of small fridges, and some drawers. Aaron bent down to open one, but it was locked.

"The drawers contain the drugs and vaccines we are trialing. We don't only work with Ebola. We do contract testing for pharmaceutical companies the world over. That is what finances our research projects."

"And where was Maureen?"

"Here." Edward pointed out an empty cage, the end of the middle row. The only empty one in fact.

Aaron nodded, and stood up straight. He noticed that Dave was starting to hurt.

"Thank you. I don't think we need keep you from your work any longer. Dave, do you have any questions?"

"Just one. Just to look at, did Maureen look any different from the other monkeys?"

"Well, I can tell them apart, but no. They all look pretty much the same."

Aaron could see where this was going.

"And are the cages labelled?" Dave said

"No. There is a grid on the computer showing what animal is in each cage. No-one can access the computer without one of these." Edward held up his swipe card.

"Thank you Edward." Aaron said. "Please would you direct us back to Doctor Page's office now?"

Going down in the lift, Dave leaned on the wall. "That was interesting." He said. He was trying not to show it, but he was clearly in pain.

"Hmm. I wonder if he realised that he was incriminating himself by saying no one could get in without his card." Aaron said. "Although if someone wanted to borrow it, i'm sure they'd find a way."

"And I doubt he'd announce it if he lost it anyway. He'd be in too much trouble. I'll follow up this Secur-a-Dor. Find out if they keep data on their clients."

They stepped out of the lift, and walked along the corridor to meet up with Emily.

-0-0-0-

"Don't go near her. If she bites you, you're as good as dead."

Chloe stared at the creature in the hutch. She was showing the woman her teeth; sharp and yellow.

"Don't worry! I won't be touching it." Chloe replied. "Ugly bastard, isn't it?"

"Yeah. But that 'ugly bastard' is going to free this wonderful country of poverty." He put his arm around his sister. "When Karl and Neil get here, we can start to really make plans. They should have crystallised out the virus by now. "

"Is there enough vaccine for all of us?"

"Yes, and one dose for the test. Neil says he can make some more if we need to. It takes a couple of days though. We also need to get our human test subject too." Edward said. "And I think I've found the perfect Guinea Pig."

"Hey that's great. Who is it? Where did you find him? At the welfare office like Karl suggested? How much money are we going to be paying him? I need to know for the budget."

"It's ok, Chlo!" he laughed at her excitement. "He didn't need much persuasion, and he's going to be doing it for nothing. He's glad to help us in our fight to clean up America! We don't need to budget for his fees. I'll be talking to him soon, giving him his final instructions." Edward said. "His name is Aaron Hotchner. He's a Fed."


	3. Spill

**PANOPLY OF FEAR  
**Chapter 3  
Spill

_**Robert Frost wrote, "We dance round in a ring and suppose, While the secret sits in the middle and knows" **_

When Aaron Dave and Emily arrived back at the PD offices, Aaron called his team together. He felt so tired he thought he might be sick.

"We can all get back to the hotel, and meet in my room for a debriefing." He said "I need a short sleep first, so shall we say in two hours, meet up and discuss what we've got today, and plan tomorrow."

Various nods and mumbles of 'ok' and 'yes'. They had two SUV's lent by the PD. Hotch took Reid, Emily and Dave in his. He asked Emily to drive. He was afraid he would fall asleep at the wheel. Dave looked pale and in pain, and Spencer had dark rings under his eyes.

Morgan took Jareau and Garcia.

Emily and Garcia were sharing. Jareau had requested a single room. She said she snored since she became pregnant, and didn't want to keep anyone awake. Morgan was with Spencer, and Aaron with Dave. But Aaron needed a drink first to wind down.

He sat at the bar alone and lonely, his hand gripping the glass and melting the ice. He never imagined he could feel this lonely; he thought Haley would always be there for him. He had a space in his life that he desperately needed to fill. He had hoped... Ah well, that was not going to happen now. He swallowed the drink and asked the bar man to do him another. He looked at Aaron, wondering if it was a good idea. Aaron caught the look.

"It's ok." He said. "I'm going to have a sleep after this one."

The barman took his glass and poured him another whisky. Aaron sipped this one; he allowed the warmth of the solvent to fill his throat and mouth. Then he picked up his drink and wandered outside into the cool evening air.

He breathed in the darkness, and tasted the tang of ozone. There was a storm coming tonight. He couldn't sleep through storms; he was compelled to watch them. Looking up he could see the demarcation between the starry sky and the clouds. He could almost feel them slowly cutting off the universe, isolating him from the rest of creation.

He took another sip of scotch and walked slowly towards the loungers around the tiny pool.

-0-0-0-

"So," Garcia said. "Have you told him yet?"

"Told who what?" Emily looked up from where she was sitting on the bed still dressed. Pen had stripped down to her underwaer and was in the bed.

Emily knew exactly who and what. She was playing for time. Should she pour her heart out or keep it safe inside?

"No, Pen. I can't." Pour her heart out she decided. Pen was totally trustworthy, and sometimes had good advice.

"You have to, Sweetheart. He almost died a few weeks ago, and it would never have been said." Garcia said. "What's the worst that could happen? You have to weigh up the risks."

"Do you know, I was glad when Haley left? It made the way open for me, now the door is wide, I'm scared to go through." _Help me here, Pen!_ "I go all trembly when I see him. His eyes; that mouth! If he's hurt, I just want to run to him!"

"Look, Love. The worst that could happen is that he prefers Reid."

"Yeah. That's another thing. I'm competing with someone I care about. It doesn't feel right."

"Oh Em! That's completely misplaced loyalty! Hotch either likes men or women. You can't change that." Garcia put her feet out of the bed and sat facing her.

"Go now. Go and tell him you're in love with him." She took Emily's hand and squeezed them. "You have nothing to lose!"

"Except my dignity."

"Pah! What's dignity compared with a lifetime of love with the G-Hotch-Man?"

"You know what?" Emily stood up. "You're right. I'm going now!"

She went to the mirror and quickly raked a comb through her hair. She stood back and undid her top shirt button, and fastened it again. Garcia laughed.

"Ok! Ok! I'm going!" Emily grinned at her friend.

And she was gone.

-0-0-0-

She walked past Hotch and Rossi's room a couple of times, and stood outside for a minute or two, and then she knocked.

_There! I've done it!_

She looked down at her hands and was amazed and not a little cross to see them shaking. She folded them tight across her chest; nervous pose!

_Come on you silly girl! Get a grip!_

The door opened, and Rossi stood there in pyjama bottoms and an undone Liberace dressing gown. She looked in amazement at the muscles on his chest. He quickly and self consciously pulled the gown around him.

"I...erm...Is Hotch here?"

"He is down in the bar."

"Ok." She said nervously. "I'll catch him down there. Thank you."

She really wanted to run away. Talk about embarrassment! But she sauntered off towards the lift. Dave closed the door and went back to his book – Scotland Yard: The Early Years – but the puzzled frown on his face refused to go.

-0-0-0-

"So the most likely group is this one." Reid said, picking up a flyer he had found in the public library. "The EPN group – End Poverty Now." He picked up his phone. "I'll call them."

"Good idea!" shouted Morgan from the bathroom. "Find out how to join, what their aims are."

Reid dialled the number shown on the flyer. A local number. He wanted to know how far reaching the group was, and if there were any pressure groups affiliated with them. A woman answered the phone.

"I'm sorry, the person you need to speak to isn't here at the moment. Maybe call back in a couple of hours."

"Ok, thank you. Who should I ask for?"

"The EPN chairman. He prefers we don't give out names. We get a lot of problems, especially from racist groups. Our names and addresses are with held until we are sure of people. I'm sure you understand."

"Yes ma'am. Are you able o tell me the names of these racist groups?"

"I'm sorry, but no I can't tell you. When you meet the chairman he will tell you everything."

"Ok and thank you." He put the phone down and looked across at Morgan who had just emerged from the bathroom. He had a towel around his waist, and was rubbing his head dry. Reid told him what had been said.

"She mentioned being targeted by racist groups." Reid said.

"A high proportion of impoverished Americans are black." Morgan said. "They would benefit most directly from the charity. Racist groups wouldn't like that."

"I can't understand racism." Reid said. "It doesn't make sense."

"That's because you are not an ignorant peasant with an IQ of five." Morgan answered. "Doesn't matter how smart you are. I defy anyone to understand racism. Even racists can't explain it."

Reid looked at his watch. "We're meeting at Hotch and Rossi's in an hour. I'm going to have a little sleep."

He lay back on the bed and turned onto his side with his back to Morgan. He took off his glasses and put them on the bedside table, and went straight to sleep.

-0-0-0-

Hotch sat sideways on a sun lounger, and faced the pool. There was no body swimming. He thought he might have a short swim later after the debriefing. It was quiet, but not deserted. A couple walked slowly past him, giggling and touching. He felt the pang of loneliness grip him again. He watched them as they walked round the pool and went into one of the little cabins on the opposite side. He sighed and sipped his drink

His mind drifted back to the lovely holiday he had with Haley that first year out of school, just before law school. So very much in love. They would not have dreamed it could end like this...

He heard sounds behind him as some people came down to the pool. He was about to take another drink when strong hands gripped his upper arms and dragged him backwards off the lounger.

He struggled with two men, a third stood nearby, watching. These men were powerful; the grip on his arms was stopping blood from getting to his hands. He dropped the glass and it smashed on the blue mosaic tiles, the golden liquid slowly trickling towards the pool.

"What the hell are you..." The punch in the face stopped his words; He felt a bolt of pain as the plate so recently screwed onto his cheekbone dislodged.

"Stop struggling." The third man said. "Or we will have to stop you."

Hotch couldn't speak without feeling as if he'd been stabbed in the face

"Do it." The third man said again.

They dragged him to the edge of the pool and kicked his legs from under him. He fell forwards onto his face at the edge of the water.

_Oh my god, they are going to drown me!..._

He kicked and struggled and noticed that his mouth was bleeding and colouring the water on the side of the pool. He cried out as his face banged against the tiled floor and the skin broke. He saw more blood and...

They pushed his head under the water, still holding his arms. He felt hands on the back of his head hold him under. He kicked and fought but his assailants were strong and there were three to one. He saw pink strands of water drift past his eyes as his struggles lessened, and his eyes misted over.

Suddenly the attackers felt him sag in their grip. He stopped struggling, and his head stopped moving. His hair stuck around his face as they pulled him out of the water. His head fell forewords, and pink water coloured his pale skin in uneven streaks.

"Get him out to the car. Quickly now before anyone comes."

The two holding him lifted him upright and dragged him through the gate, and out into the street.

"He's drunk again!" one of them said as a passer by gave them an uneasy glance. The passer by looked away and scuttled off. The car door was opened and Hotch was pushed into the back and strapped in so that he was sitting in the car. They arranged him so that he appeared to be sleeping, and the three got in and drove away.

-0-0-0-

Emily went to the bar.

"I'm looking for my boss." She said to the barman. "Tall powerful man with dark eyes and hair. About forty. Have you seen him?"

"Yes." He answered. "He went out to the pool. He looked kind of sad. Is he ok?"

"I'm not sure." Emily said. "I'm going to find out. By the pool you said?"

The barman smiled and nodded and went back to polishing glasses. Emily went outside.

There was no one about. She began to walk around the pool, when she felt a crunch as she trod on a piece of broken glass. She bent down and pulled the glass out of her shoe. It hadn't cut her, but it was dangerous. She saw that there were several shards of glass on the floor. Carefully she started to pick up the pieces, and that was when she noticed it.

Blood. Not a lot, but then it could have been washed into the pool. Slowly she stood up and looked around with the glass in her hand.

_Hotch? Hotch!_

He wasn't by the pool, or in the bar. Had he gone for a walk? He had looked as if a sleep would have been a better call. He wasn't one to walk just for the sake of it.

So where was he?

She checked the time. Ten minutes before the briefing.

She turned and made her way back to the lift, dropping the glass in the bin on the way past. She felt utterly deflated. She thought she could have actually told him that she was in love with him. Now the moment had gone...

She must have missed him. They were probably all sitting in Hotch's room now waiting for her.

Wearily she got in the lift, absently sucking the little cut on her finger from the broken glass, and ascended to their floor.


	4. Search

**PANOPLY OF FEAR  
**Chapter 4  
Search

_**The sun beams down on a brand new day  
No more welfare tax to pay  
Unsightly slums gone up in flashing light  
Jobless millions whisked away  
At last we have more room to play  
All systems go to kill the poor tonight**_

_**The Dead Kennedys – Kill the Poor**_

By the time Emily got back to Dave and Hotch's room, everyone else was there, sitting on the beds with a table between them. She was surprised that Hotch wasn't there. Garcia looked over to her, and was equally surprised that Emily was alone.

"Where's Hotch?" Dave asked.

"I thought he'd be here by now." Emily said, starting to feel anxious. "I haven't seen him."

Dave stood up, and went to the door. "He didn't look well. I'll go and see if I can find him."

Reid stood up and followed him. "I'll come with you."

Emily followed the men out of the room and down to the lift. As they descended to the ground floor, Emily told them what had happened.

"I didn't think the glass had anything to do with Hotch." She said worriedly. "I picked it up and binned it."

"It's ok." Dave said. "It will still be there."

"I saw a little blood too, but I just thought it was from someone's hand, trying to pick up the glass." She held up her finger. "Surely it can't be..." She didn't finish her sentence. She suddenly felt very sick. Surely not...

The lift bumped slightly as is halted on the ground floor. Emily noticed that Reid had gone a little pale again. Didn't he like lifts?

"The glass was here." Emily said, pointing out the spot by the sun lounger. "The blood was near the edge. It looks as if it's been washed away."

"There's a tiny smudge here." Spencer said, pulling gloves over long fingers. He swabbed the blood smear and gave it to Rossi. Emily retrieved the glass out of the bin. She sniffed the round piece of glass that was once the bottom of the tumbler. "Scotch." She said. "That is what Hotch drinks."

"This sun lounger has been moved recently." Dave said. "There are fresh scrape marks on the tiles. He was sitting here when something happened" He looked across the pool to where he saw a light on in one of the cabins. "I'll do a house to house." He said. "You check that Aaron was drinking scotch. And if the bar tender saw anything."

Dave quickly walked around the pool and knocked on the only cabin with a light on. The door was answered a few minutes later, just as Dave was about to knock again.

"Uh... hello." Dave said, trying not to notice that the young man was wearing a quilt. "David Rossi, FBI." He showed the man his ID. "I was wondering if you could help me. Did you notice a disturbance out on the other side of the pool earlier this evening?"

"Who is it Chick?" A woman called from inside the cabin. For the briefest of moments, Dave wondered what she would be wearing...

"It's ok, Hun. I'll tell you in a minute... I did see some men carrying a drunk out to a car. I didn't see anything else though."

"And what time would that have been, Sir?"

"Oh about half, three quarters of an hour ago."

"Can you remember anything about the men you saw?

"Yes... One was..."

"Would it be possible for you to get dressed and come over to the lounge and make a statement?" Dave said.

"Sure." The man said. "Give me ten minutes and I'll be over."

"And if your wife saw anything, maybe she could come over too."

The man nodded and closed the door. David left the man and checked the other two cabins, but both were empty. He went back to the lounge section of the bar and waited. Emily and Reid were chatting to the barman. Then they came over and joined Rossi.

"Hotch was on his second double scotch. He told the barman that he was going up for a sleep when he'd drunk it." Reid said.

"He went out and sat on that lounger." Emily said. "Then a few minutes later I came down and he told me Hotch had gone out side. By then he had gone."

"Why were you looking for him?" Dave asked. When Emily looked embarrassed, and didn't say anything, Dave said, "You will have to tell us, Agent Prentiss."

"I erm... It was kind of private." She stammered, feeling very vulnerable. She really didn't want to tell Dave before she even told Aaron! The rest of the team were coming over. She said, "Can I tell you in private, please."

Dave got up and the two of them went lover to the corner of the bar and sat down.

"Ok, I'll keep it private as much as I can."  
"Thank you Sir. The fact is, I want to start a relationship with Hotch. I came down to talk to him about it. Garcia will back me up there."

Dave smiled at her. "Thank you, Emily. Let's go and join the others. Our witnesses have just arrived."

-0-0-0-

Aaron slowly became aware of the sound of a car engine. He realised that he was sitting in the back of a car, strapped upright, head on a rolled up jumper, as if he was sleeping. His chest hurt to breathe, and his mouth tasted of blood and chlorine. He tried to remember what had happened, and he remembered being held under the water; they had tried to drown him. He decided to stay 'asleep' and listen to what was being said. He felt sick from swallowing pool water, but he wanted to pretend to be asleep. He listened, and hoped he wouldn't throw up.

He knew one of the voices. He desperately tried to get his brain to work. His sinuses were full of chlorinated water, and his head hurt too much to think. He thought his cheek bone was broken again. He moved his jaw and the pain that resulted almost made him scream. He just managed to stay 'asleep'.

The voice... It was the technician from the monkey labs... Edward.

He's the UnSub? And they were standing right by him! He hoped that Dave would figure it out. Aaron thought Dave was suspicious of him at the time, he could tell by Dave's body language. Only he had access to the monkey with his card. And he could handle the animals without them hurting him.

The car came to a halt, and Aaron's seat belt tightened painfully across his chest. He decided to wake up. He blinked open his eyes, and looked around.

It was Edward from the labs.

"What the hell do you think you are doing?" Aaron mumbled. It hurt too much to talk. He wondered if it was worth the effort. No one was listening. "Kidnapping is a Federal Offence. You'll get life..."

"Shut up." The man sitting next to him said. Or rather child. He only looked about seventeen.

"How did you get mixed up in this?" Hotch said. "You're only a kid."

The kid gripped Aaron's face and pulled him round to face him. The pain was making his eyes water, but still he refused to let them know he was in pain.

"I might be young, but I have principles." He said. "Get rid of poverty and have a free white America."

He pushed Hotch away, and this time, he couldn't stop it; a cry escaped his lips. Hotch clawed hack his self control and dignity.

"You'll get life without parole for abduction."

The kid just stared at him. The car door opened and Hotch was pulled from the car. He was pushed against the side, and his hands were tied behind his back with cable ties. He suddenly has an overwhelming need to throw up. He slid down the car onto his knees and was he sick on the grass. The pain in his face was unbelievable. He could feel the screws that used to hold the bones together grind against bone. As he heaved and retched, the plate moved, and he threw up again. His eyes watered, and his nose ran and he wondered if the agony would ever be over.

When at last his guts were done twisting, he sank back on his heels, and hung his head forward, exhausted.

"Ok, get up now!" He felt strong hands under his elbows, and he was lifted onto his feet and led into a building, which looked like an old disused hospital or clinic. He was pushed along a dusty corridor and through a door on the right. He found himself in a lab, not unlike the one he had visited earlier that day with Dave. Only this one was smaller. At the end, like in the other lab, was a bank of cages. Some had rats and mice in, a couple contained rabbits, and one had a small monkey in. The creature was holding the bars and chittering in distress.

"Is that the monkey that was stolen?" Hotch asked Edward. His voice was slurred, and he wondered if he had been drugged to keep him docile. He had no energy to fight these men, or even to think of a plan of action.

He was led towards the bank of cages.

"Yes, this is Maureen." Edward said. "Your cage is next to hers."

Aaron looked at the cage that Edward was showing him. It was about a metre high, a metre in length, and half a metre wide.

"I can't get in there!" Hotch said, a sudden unwelcome wave of fear passed over him.

"Shut up." The kid and a girl about the same age came across the lab. The girl started to undo his shirt and pull it around his back, where he could hear the kid cutting it off him. Then they removed his trousers and shoes and socks. They took his second gun. They left him his shorts and tee shirt, and they left the empty holster strapped to his leg.

"Turn around, get on your knees, and crawl backwards into the cage." When Aaron didn't move, Edward squeezed Aaron's face, and he made a small cry of pain as he felt bones move again. "Get down onto your bloody knees!"

Hotch found himself looking down the barrel of his own gun. With shaking breaths, he sank to his knees again, and crawled backwards into the tiny cage. He had to bend forwards so his chest was against his thighs, and his head facing his knees. His shoulders touched the sides and his back touched the top of the cage. He had about three inches in front of him, but his feet were against the back.

There was no movement allowed. He couldn't even raise his head. The cage door was closed onto him, and a plastic tube was attached to the bars near his head.

"That's your water." The girl said. "Make it last. We won't be back until the morning."

The light went out. Hotch heard a door lock, and he was alone. The monkey curled up on a little pile of straw. Hotch shivered, His knees hurt on the metal base of the cage and his wrists were starting to bleed where the plastic ties were digging into his flesh. The way he was kneeling in the cage was pressing on his lungs, and he was breathing with difficulty. His muscles began to cramp after an hour or so. There was no one to hear him, so he cried out in his pain, and tears fell from his eyes, and dripped from his lashes. He thought he was going to be sick again, but in the position he was in, he didn't think he would be able to. He rested his forehead on his knees and drifted into a semi-conscious faint as exhaustion took him.

-0-0-0-

_**The Great Kanaka said, "Some people were born to die."**_


	5. Animal Experimentation

**PANOPLY OF FEAR  
**Chapter 5  
Animal Experimentation

_**Mahatma Gandhi said, ""I abhor vivisection with my whole soul. All the scientific discoveries stained with innocent blood I count as of no consequence."**_

  
Garcia and Reid were talking to the Hotel Manager. He had in front of him the security tapes, going back one week. Garcia was itching to have them.

"We only keep the tapes for a week." he said. "This is everything we have."

"Thank you." Reid said, and he took half of the pile, Garcia picked up the rest. He carried them up to Garcia and Emily's room. The hotel had provided a video player for Garcia, but she really wanted her facial recognition software and her computer.

"I'll tell Rossi what you need. He might think it best for you to get back." Reid could see worry in her eyes. He thought it was probably the same in his own.

Reid went down to the lounge and called the EPN group, to see if the chairman was in. It was the same woman who answered the phone.

"I am so sorry, but he has been held up. He might not be back for a day or two. But he's said I can give you any information that you need."

"I would like to come to one of your meetings." Reid said. "I will be able to ask questions there?"

"That is probably the best idea." She said. "We will be meeting in the hall behind St Hilda's Catholic Church tomorrow evening at six."

"I'll be there."Reid said. "And can I bring a friend?"

"Yes, of course. I look forward to seeing you."

Reid put the phone down and turned to Morgan. "We've got a date tomorrow, The EPN group. It would be good if you come because of your ethnicity."

Morgan's phone rang before he could think of an appropriate retort. It was David.

"We're having that meeting now, in my room. We have a case to solve."

The two agents left their room and walked down the corridor towards Dave's.

-0-0-0-

Aaron's muscles were screaming at him. He had been cramped up in the cage for several hours and he desperately needed to stretch, or even move a little. But it was impossible. It was almost as if the cage had been built especially for him.

He tried to think, to come up with some kind of plan, but whatever drug they had given him was preventing him from having coherent thoughts. His head was aching to the point where shapes were dancing before his eyes, and he wanted to wrap his arms around his head, but his hands were pressed against the small of his back. He could feel the blood soaking into his white tee shirt. He pressed his legs against the floor of the tiny cage and pushed his back up; maybe he could break the joints of the sides of the cage. But it was strongly built. But all he managed to do was hurt his fragile back. The blood was flowing now, down the sides of his body and dipping down onto his legs and onto the floor. It was agony where the recently healed wounds in his back opened up and his eyes watered and he screamed out in pain and frustration.

He took a sip of the warm water through the tube. They wanted him to feel like a captive animal in a cage, and it was taking all his effort not to feel like one. The disorientation was completed by the lack of natural light in the room. He had no way to judge the passing hours, or how long it would be until morning. He alternated between total control and blind panic, his limbs twitched and tightened into spasms and cramps, and he shivered with the cold, although he was sweatingwith fright and dread. When bile arose in his throat and he was violently sick, he was left totally crushed and exhausted and he slipped into a coma like faint.

-0-0-0-

Garcia didn't attend the meeting in Rossi's room. She was watching the security tape over and over, trying to get a good look at the abductors. She needed to get back to her bunker and her computers.

The remaining five agents were sharing information. Reid explained about the EPN group that he and Morgan were going to visit the next evening.

"They've had problems with racist groups attacking," Reid said, "but they wouldn't disclose details over the phone. At the meting we should be able to find out some information."

He had made copies of the flyer, and he gave one to each agent.

"This UnSub is unusual, in that he wants an end to poverty, but is blaming the ethnic groups." Morgan said. "Rid America of the poor, and at the same time, rid the country of blacks. Racism seems to be the driving force rather than poverty."

Rossi looked to Emily. "Did you find anything interesting when you interviewed Doctor Page?"

"Not much more than we already know. The virus they were working on kills more slowly, so it will as a consequence travel further before it dies out. If there is an outbreak we will have to be very quick at quarantining the area." She said. "There is no vaccine. Maureen was going to produce the first vaccine after being injected with mouse antibodies. This was hopefully going to stimulate the animals own antibody production, and in turn this could work on people. The mouse antibodies don't work on us, but they do on monkeys."

Rossi had made copies of the witness statements, and he passed them around. Kieran Dovey and his wife Rhona both described a tall stooped man with curly hair in a halo around his head. The other two men were were 'average'. The 'drunken' man was definitely Aaron though. Tall with Black hair, charcoal grey suit, broad shoulders and fair skin.

""Reid, has the Tech Girl ... Penelope... found anything on the tapes?"

"She asked me to ask you if she could go back to Quantico." Reid said. "She needs her software."

"Yes, that is a good idea. She can go back on a scheduled flight in the morning; maybe you could book it for her. Ok, has anyone got anything else to add?"

"I have made a list of likely targets." Jareau said. "There are quite a few, there are a lot of deprived areas. Do you think we should issue a warning?"

"No not at this stage." Rossi said. "What could we say? There is nothing for them to avoid. And Jennifer, I want you to fly back tomorrow with Penelope. You are too vulnerable in your condition."

Jareau began to protest, but Dave was insistent. "Penelope will be thankful for the help and the company I believe."

He wouldn't accept an argument. As they left, Reid touched Emily on the arm.

"Would you care to join me in the bar for a quick drink?"

Emily nodded. She guessed he wanted to ask her why she was looking for Hotch earlier. She sat down in a darkened booth, and Reid went and bought them each a drink. Sweet white wine for him, Dry red for her.

They sat facing one another for a good few minutes without saying anything. She warmed the wine with her hands around the bowl of the glass, and allowed the evaporating alcohol to travel into her sinuses.

Then Reid asked her exactly the question she had anticipated.

"I was going to tell him about how I feel." She said. "But what has that to do with you?" She knew she should be annoyed. This was definitely no one else's business, but she couldn't be annoyed with Reid. He had a sweet innocence that meant you couldn't be angry with him. He was never ever malicious, just a little tactless in his dealings with people. She smiled at him, taking away any feelings of irritation that might have come across in her words.

"I thought so." He said. "I think it will be you he chooses, anyway. He prefers women, although he has ...erm ...He prefers women anyway."

She reached across the table and covered his hand with hers. "If either one of us is lucky enough to win his heart, the other one of us shouldn't feel betrayed." She said. "It will be hard, but I think it's important for us both to remember that we aren't in competition."

Reid smiled at her in agreement. "We just need to find him." He said. "We don't have many leads."

"We'll find him, Spencer." She said. "We have to."

-0-0-0-

It was a long cold anxiety filled night for Aaron. He was very cold in the morning when the kidnappers came back, and he was moaning and crying like a trapped animal. But his mental condition was not relevant to the work they were doing. It was a shock though that Hotchner seemed to be broken so quickly. The cage door was opened, and the man in the cage groaned and reached out to crawl out of the cage. That wasn't why it was opened though. They pushed him back, holding the gun between his eyes on the bridge of his nose.

His head was tilted to the side, and he looked at Edward with wide dark eyes.

"Please, let me out?" he begged. His eyes were huge, unblinking."Please, help me..."

"You have a job to do." Edward said. He reached in the cage and cut the ties that held his wrists together. Aaron attempted to move his arms but so long in the same position made the movement agonising. Edward stretched Aaron's arms out behind him and fastened them to the top of the cage, his pale inner arms against the expanded metal. The ties were on his wrists, either side of his elbows, and around his biceps. He was now immobilised completely. His head hung forward, he was still kneeling in the tiny cramped cage, the soft flesh of his inner arms exposed and vulnerable.

The cage was closed and locked. He screamed, "No!" but he was ignored. It was like a horror movie. He felt something sharp on the inside of his elbows. And he realised with a dreadful fear that an IV was being attached to each of his arms.

"What are you doing?" he cried out through the pain in his cheek, and the screaming muscles of his tortured body. "Please, tell me! What are you doing to me?"A cold liquid was entering his veins. He pulled against the restraints, to no avail. There was no chance of escape.

"Please tell me!" he said softly. "What are you doing?"

Edward knelt down next to the cage. Aaron turned his head to look at him, despite the hurt it caused, and the throbbing headache.

"That, my friend, is the Ebola antibody we have extracted from Maureen. We will give you a few hours to absorb it, then we will test its efficacy." Edward smiled at the distressed man he held captive. "You could be the saviour of thousands. Or alternatively, you will die a horrible death from Ebola. Either way, you will have made a major contribution to science."

"Please don't do this." Aaron whispered. Then the effort of holding his head to the side became too much and he looked down at his knees again. Edward filled up the water bottle attached to the cage, and they left him alone again, and went out of the clinic to their car. As they locked the door, they heard a horrific scream as the antibodies worked in Aaron's body, and the convulsions that they had seen in their animal experiments gripped him and tore him apart.

Edward for a brief moment felt empathy for him, knowing that the suffering would carry on for several hours before Hotchner would pass out in agony. But the empathy didn't last long. Hotchner was going to help clean up his beautiful country. He should be proud.

He heard the screams even with the engine running, and it un-nerved him.

"Get us out of here." He said to Neil. "I don't want to listen to that."

-0-0-0-

Reid went with Emily back to her room where Garcia was still working on the tapes.

"Dave said you should get back to Quantico tomorrow. You are booked onto the ten thirty six flight." Reid said. "And JJ is going back with you."

"Good. I know I can get a lot out of these images. But I can't get anything without my computers."

Spencer bid them good night, and went back to his room he was sharing with Morgan. It was late and he needed some sleep before a busy day tomorrow.

He just hoped that Aaron was safe. Even if he chose Emily over him, he would not stop loving him.

He couldn't help it.


	6. Dichotomy

**PANOPLY OF FEAR  
**Chapter 6  
Dichotomy

_**Poverty is the worst kind of violence - Gandhi**_

Early the next morning, at six, Reid's alarm went off, and he opened his eyes and stared straight at the ceiling. The first thing that crossed his mind was Hotch.

Where was he? Was he alive? Were they hurting him?

He rolled onto his side and swung his legs out of the bed. The only way to help Aaron was to get working and find him.

Morgan was still asleep, so he went into the bathroom and turned on the shower. Standing under the hot massaging water, Spencer couldn't stop thinking of Hotch. He had almost told Emily about the time Hotch came round to see him after the Philip Dowd case. Neither he nor Aaron had spoken about that night to anyone; in fact they hadn't even said much about it between themselves. Sometimes he wondered if it really happened.

While Morgan was in the shower, his phone rang. It was Rossi, and Reid answered it.

"There has been a death."

"Not Ebola?" Reid felt his stomach twist.

"We need you in my room asap." And Rossi cut the connection, leaving Reid staring at the handset in horror.

Morgan came out of the bathroom. "You alright kid?"

"There's been an Ebola death, Morgan." Reid said. "A seven year old child. Rossi's called a meeting."

-0-0-0-

The child, an African American girl aged seven, had died in the night. She had come home from school feeling sick, and had gone straight to bed where she had died a few hours later. The Centre for Disease Control had decided to not release the news yet, and allow the children and teachers to go to school today, and then quarantine the school. Only then would they send suited up technicians into the school to try to find the source.

It was possible that the child was patient zero and had been infected out of school, although the parents said that she was quite well when she went to school that morning.

"But what if the source is in the school." Reid said. "Those children may not yet be infected. Sending them into a Hot Zone without warning them could be sending them to their deaths."

It was awful. But the decision had been made. It was better than letting the dreaded sickness out of the school. At least this way the outbreak could be controlled.

The parents of the dead child were asked, or rather ordered, to go to the school too. They were very likely infected now. They were given a choice. Go to the school, or face the consequences. They were aware that the consequences would mean being shot.

"It's barbaric." Emily said.

"We stop looking for Hotch now. If we find him during our investigation, that's well and good. But our priority is to get this UnSub before he kills anyone else." Rossi said. "We are not giving up on Hotch. It s likely that the same UnSub is responsible for Hotch's abduction and the outbreak at the school, but the school must come first."

Reid looked at Dave's eyes. He could see in them a deep and terrible sadness. Aaron was a close friend, and the last thing he wanted to do was abandon him. But it was the right call. They didn't have to like it, just obey it.

"So what do we know about this UnSub?" Dave said.

"He's highly intelligent, with a knowledge of virology." said Spencer. "He's probably worked with primates. He might have actually worked in the labs."

"Ok, Reid, Look into that please." Dave said. "What else do we have?"

"He's brazen." Emily said. "Assuming it's the same UnSub who abducted Hotch, he just walked in and took him, seconds away from being caught, and somewhere it was probable that he would be seen. As he was, in fact."

"He's white." Morgan said. "He's racist, blames the African Americans for the ills of society. He could be associated with an anti poverty group. Reid and I are going to join one tonight."

"He must have somewhere to work." Jareau said. "He must have labs to experiment in, where he wouldn't be disturbed."

"Morgan and Emily, follow up that lead. Jareau, you will be travelling back to Quantico later with Garcia I believe. " Dave said. "See if you can get a connection between the kidnappers and anyone Reid comes up with."

Saying that the team had to abandon the search for Hotch was one thing. Doing it himself was another. They all noticed, and they were all relieved.

-0-0-0-

Aaron's body convulsed it the small space that had become his world. He had no room to move, and as his muscles tightened, his legs tried to straighten, air was forced out of his lungs, and he tried so hard to not scream. Sounds escaped his lips like low soft moans, but when the screams came he couldn't stop them. As his back arched, his arms were pressed against the bars. His feet pushed back behind him as his knees flexed. He threw his head back and bit down on his tongue, blood sprayed from his mouth as he shook his head from side to side in an attempt to control what was happening to him. The whole time his body shook and convulsed he was conscious. He knew what was happening and could do nothing to stop it.

The only part of him that didn't move were his arms, strapped securely to the top of the cage. He wrenched his shoulders in the struggle, and he felt and heard a crack as his shoulders dislocated. The pain made him dizzy, and he wanted to faint. But whatever was in the IV would not allow him to pass out. Everything he experienced with agonising lucidity.

When at last the IV had emptied itself into his now bruised and bleeding arms, the seizures abated, and he was allowed to fall into an exhausted faint.

-0-0-0-

Rossi and Reid went back to the labs again to chat with Doctor Page. They got a list of employees, and a list of those who had recently left or been sacked.

"We would like to speak to the head technician again, Edward I think his name is. Please would you call him? I would rather speak to him here than in his own environment."

Dr Page picked up her phone and called the lab. She asked to speak to Edward, and she listened for a minute. Then she thanked whoever it was she was speaking to, and replaced the handset.

"He didn't come in to work today." She said, clearly worried. "I'll get you his file."

She went to a cupboard behind her, and opened a drawer. Quickly flicking through the folders, she took out one, and handed it to Rossi.

"I can't stay with you, I am needed elsewhere." She said.

"The school?" Reid asked. "We know about the school."

"I hope the office made the right call." Dave said to her as she ran out into the corridor, and down towards where her car was parked.

Reid and Rossi went down to the lab to talk to Fair's work colleagues.

They weren't surprised by what they found. He wasn't a popular man, although none of the technicians could quite say what it was about him they didn't like. The closest they got was that he was a loner, and looked down on people. Typical of the type of UnSub they were looking for.

The two men left the building and drove back down the drive with the gardens on either side. They were beautiful, Dave remembered from before. But now they seemed to have taken on a chilling quality.

On the way back to the hotel, they drove past the address where Fair lived. It was a small single storey prefab. They were both surprised by it. Edward fair was obviously poor himself.

"That's probably why he stayed aloof from his colleagues." Reid said. "He was ashamed."

Rossi stopped the car and they went to the door. Reid knocked it, but it was deserted.

Thinking about this, they returned to the hotel.

-0-0-0-

Garcia and Jareau had left to return to Quantico. The remaining four agents spent the day going through the known associates of Edward Fair. He had few friends.

At five thirty, Spencer and Derek left for St Hilda's church. They took their side arms concealed in the back of their waist bands under their jackets, but Morgan left behind what Hotch referred to as his 'bat belt'. He felt vulnerable without it, but they didn't want to look like Feds when they spoke to the Chairman, if he was going to be there. From what Reid was told, it was unlikely.

That didn't matter at this stage. All they needed to do at this stage was ask a few questions. When they arrived at the church, there were already three other cars in the car park. Morgan parked at the other side opposite the row of cars, facing the gate. It ewas a habit, but a good one. Park for a quick clean get away.

The agents left the car and walked to the hall at the back of the church. Reid knocked on the door to the hall, and a young woman opened it.

"Mr Reid." She said. "I am Chloe. We spoke on the phone. "

Reid shook her hand. "Nice to meet you face to face." He said. "This is my friend Mr Morgan. He is especially interested in poverty relief among his brothers."

Morgan held out his hand to shake, and Chloe seemed to hesitate before returning the gesture. Reid watched her face. There was definite reluctance there. He didn't like it. It made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end.

Morgan was genuinely surprised that there were no other people there from minorities; they were all white, and well off. He commented to the man sitting next to him that he expected there to be more black people there, as they were greatly affected by poverty. He wondered if any of these people had heard about the school. Reid was chatting to Chloe and an older woman who introduced herself as Kay. Reid took out a folded picture from his pocket and handed it to Kay.

"Is this man a member?" he asked. "I knew him from work and I am trying to contact him." Reid carefully watched the women's eyes, but they gave away nothing.

"I don't know him." She said, and gave him back the picture of Fair. She changed the subject. "How did you find out about us?" she asked.

Reid had the impression that they were watching him. He remembered that Chloe had said that they needed to check people out before they disclosed too much.

"I found a flyer in the library." He said. "How will I know if I have been accepted as a member?"

Kay looked over his shoulder at Morgan, who was trying to make a conversation, but failing. "If you leave your number with Chloe, she will call you." She said.

"I have many questions about the group." Reid said. "Poverty is not something we should see in our great country."

"We agree with you. Please, come through here, Mr Reid. There is something I want to show you."

Reid glanced back at let Morgan know that he was going around the back, but he was at last in a conversation. He followed the women through a door.

As soon as he was through the door he sensed something wasn't right. Then when he heard the door slam, he was certain of it. He swung round to meet his attacker.

"Edward!" he said, not altogether surprised. He reached to the back of his belt to retrieve his gun, but he wasn't fast enough. The pipe that Fair was holding hit the side of his head, his right ear started to ring horribly, and he felt blood run down his neck. Hefell to the right and put out his hands to save himself, but he was disoriented, and when the pipe came down on the back of his head, he tried to turn over and face his attacker. He needed to call Morgan, but one of the women kicked him in the mouth. He felt his front teeth loosen and his lip split. He reached up to his face to protect himself, and the pipe caught his fingers. He yelped in pain, sure that they were broken. The pipe swung and hit his ear again, and this time, he passed out. His last thought was for Morgan to get out, and quick!

**A/N See LDSK Epilogue by Aggie Escott**


	7. Another Down

**A/N I have put a new poll on my profile. Please vote and help me with my story!**

**PANOPLY OF FEAR  
**Chapter 7  
Another Down

_**The harder you love, the further you fall - ANON**_

Morgan finished his conversation with the member of the group; a genuine person and wannabe philanthropist. He promised to do everything he could for Morgan's 'brothers'.

He looked around for Reid, but he wasn't talking to Chloe now.

"Excuse me," Morgan said to her. "I am looking for my friend, Dr Reid who I came with. Did you see where he went?"

"Sorry, I didn't notice. He asked where the toilets were." She answered. "Maybe he's there."

"And they would be...?"

"Oh sorry, straight through the doors and on the left."

"Thank you." Morgan smiled, and went to find him. Opening the door to the men's room, he called out to him.

"Hey Kiddo. I've had a..."

He noticed that all the stalls were empty. Reid wasn't there.

"Spencer?" he called. "Where are you?"

He ran out to the car, pulling his phone from his pocket, and removing his gun from his waist band. He dialled Reid's number, but it went straight to voice mail. Spencer wasn't at the car.

_What the hell..._

He ran back into the hall, waving his ID, and holding his gun in front of him.

"FBI! Nobody move!"

The people in the hall stood still, a couple of them put their hands up.

"I am looking for Dr Reid, the young man I came here with. Did anyone see where he went?"

There were murmurs of "Who?" and "I didn't see."

Morgan stood in the doorway and called for back up. Something was going down and he had no idea what. With his back to the wall, and his gun ready, he cleared each of the rooms in the church hall. Spencer wasn't there. As he came out of the last room, he heard a car revving outside. He ran out, and the car – an old Chevy, was just driving around from the back of the building towards the car park. He stood in front of the car and took up a firing stance.

"Stop! FBI!"

There was one person in the car. When it looked like it wasn't going to stop, he fired at the window between the two front seats. The car swerved, but didn't slow, and he rolled out of the way.

He got up and ran to his car, and took up pursuit. Once again he was glad that he had parked for a quick get away. He didn't know at the time it would be for a pursuit.

He called Garcia for satellite surveillance. It was going to take a while to find him, but he knew Garcia would do her best, especially when he told her that he thought Reid was in the car.

As he drove after the Chevy, he really did hope that Reid was in it. Otherwise, he had just driven away from the unsecured crime scene.

-0-0-0-

Aaron was poked through the mesh to waken him. He slowly turned his head to the side – the only part of him that he could move. He opened his eyes and looked at his attacker.

"They will find me..." he said. "They..."

"...won't find you! Sorry, but they have got their hands full with an Ebola outbreak at a school. They won't be thinking about you." He leered at his broken and injured captive. "A friend of yours is on his way to see you. You had better tidy yourself up."

"You... evil... bastards!" Hotch blinked his sore swollen eyes. He was completely immobilised – he had muscle damage caused by the seizures. He had blood on his face and on his lips where he had bitten his tongue. His arms were bent behind him at an unnatural angle. He tried to keep his back arched to relieve the pressure on his shoulders but he couldn't keep it up. He was dirty, blood smeared and in pain. He lowered his head again.

"If you don't let me out I will... die very soon... can't ... breathe..." he gasped, desperately fighting for breath. He had a choice – breathe or feel the pain in his arms and shoulders. His legs were rigid and cramped. He didn't think he would be able to stand even if they released him. Escape was not an option. Staying alive was the only thing he had left. The IV had made him feel very sick. Suddenly, without warning, he threw up.

He had no room to move and the twisting of his stomach sent shockwaves through his body. He coughed and gagged and his eyes flowed with tears of pain.

"Please..." he gasped between violent agonised retching. "Don't leave me... like this..."

He laughed and walked away.

-0-0-0-

Morgan was good at following cars, but the UnSub in the car was obviously a pro. After managing to keep up over several miles, the car vanished. Morgan called Garcia.

"Baby, please tell me you have him!"

"Oh Derek! I am so sorry. There wasn't enough time. The satellite had to be realigned. There just wasn't time."

Morgan thought she was going to cry. "It's ok, Baby Girl. I have the licence." He gave her the number, and he turned the car and drove back. Hopefully this would find their two missing agents.

-0-0-0-

"Get out!"

Reid was curled up in the boot of the car. He could hear the voice from far away; it semed to filter through several layers before it hit his subconscious.

"If you want to see your boss, GET OUT NOW!"

Reid slowly sat up. He raised his hand to his head and felt sticky warm blood in his hair. A hand reached into the boot of the car and pulled him out by his shirt. He saw that his own gun was trained on his forehead. He staggered slightly as he tried to stand. His head was spinning and he held the sides of his head to try and prevent his brain from bouncing around in his skull.

"Move." Fair said. "If you want to see your friend alive."

Reid didn't need to be told twice. Still clutching at his aching head, he walked in front of Fair towards a single storey clinic. It was overgrown, the car park cracked and broken. He was led through the main doors into a dusty empty corridor. He waked in front of Fair to the end. On the way past, Fair knocked on a door, and two women and a kid came out and walked behind Fair and Reid.

The last door on the right was reinforced with a heavy padlock. The kid unlocked it and Reid was pushed through into a lab.

"What's going on here?" he asked. He saw the monkey in the end cage and said, "Is that Maureen?"

"I really thought you'd be more interested in Hotchner." Fair said, and pushed Reid around the bench so that the could see the captive in the adjoining cage.

"Oh god..." Spencer breathed, not sure if what his brain was telling him could be true. "Aaron!"

Spencer ran forward to the cage."Open this! Now!"

"I'll pretend I didn't hear that!" A new voice. Reid turned. It was the man who had joined them in the corridor. He was older than the other three. \He was wearing a dirty lab coat and he was about fifty. He turned to Fair and said, "Tie him up. He may as well watch the experiment."

Reid was on his knees trying to reach into the cage. Hotch had his head forward and was breathing raggedly. He had blood around his mouth and on his cheek. He was kneeling in dirt and vomit and blood, which was dripping steadily from his back. He slowly and jerkily turned his head towards Reid. Hotch's hair was dirty and stuck across his face. Hr opened his red swollen eyes a fraction.

"Spence?"

"Yes Hotch. Hold on..." He was pulled away, and made to sit leaning on a pillar. His arms were pulled back and tied behind it. Reid could see straight into Aaron's prison.

"Keep awake, Hotch, keep sp..." A vicious back hander across his face stopped his words, and he spat blood on the floor.

"You can't expect me to sit here and not speak to him!" Reid said angrily. Why can't you just free him? Whatever you are doing to him, do to me. I'm younger and fitter. You will get better results."

"Don't worry." The older man said. "We might use you anyway. Depends how this one dies."

While Reid watched helplessly, the IV bags were removed from the stand. And two new ones attached to the tubes entering Aaron's arms.

"What is that?" Spencer asked. "What are you giving him?"

The single word answer made Reid stare in horror.

"Ebola."

The four kidnappers left the lab, but this time, the light was left on. As soon as the door closed, Hotch started to groan and cry. Reid could see his body shake, but Aaron didn't have the strength to arch his back to relieve his shoulders, neither could he turn his head. He was suspended by his arms, and held immobilised.

"Hotch. Hotch, please, speak. Say something." Reid begged him. "You are strong. You can get through this." Reid pulled at the ties holding him, but all he managed to do was cut his wrist.

"Giving me... Ebola... don't come near..." The effort was exhausting. He lowered his head and closed his dark painful eyes.

"Aaron! No, wake up."

"C-cant...stay... awake, Sp-pencer." Aaron gasped, took a shuddering breath. "Feel so ill..."

"Please, oh please, Aaron! Stay awake. How can I face Emily after this if I let you die right in front of me? Now stay awake!"

Hotch turned his face to Reid. "Emily?" he whispered.

"Some profiler you are, Hotch!" Reid said. "She loves you. She was on her way to tell you when you were abducted."

"Emily?...Loves me?... No Spencer. It's you... she loves" Again, Aaron relaxed and dropped down his head. Reid could see sweat glistening on his skin. The poor man was in agony. Reid's heart was breaking. He had just destroyed any chance for himself with Hotch.

_...Reid loses by default..._

And seeing the man he loved in so much pain, and yet refusing to give in to it, was tearing him apart.

-0-0-0-

"The school is locked down." Emily said. "Medics are allowed in, no one is allowed out."

"Fortunately that only becomes our problem when the source is located. Have there been any more victims?" Dave said. "I have asked Penelope to see if there was any connection between the dead child and her family with Edward Fair. If the Hot Zone isn't the school, we need to go through all the child's movements in the day before she was taken ill."

The phone on the desk rang, and Emily answered it. It was Garcia with some news.

"Three things only." She said. "But I think two are good things! The licence plate on the car is registered to a Kay Fair, the sister in law to Edward Fair. Edward's sister Chloe helps out in an underprivileged kids club, and Tisha Breno the dead child used to go there. Am I brilliant, or am I brilliant?"

"You're brilliant, Pen!" Emily said, "What's the other thing?"

"Oh yes. There's no GPS on Reid's cell. It's been turned off I believe."

Emily put down the phone. She told Dave what they had found out.

"Quite a family do!" Dave said. "You and Morgan get round to the Fair house and see what you can find. Remember, we have no warrant, although I don't think we'll have too much trouble getting one. I'll go and check out the kids' club."

The team, now badly depleted, worked through the night again, taking turns to have a nap in the car. Emily went through the motions of work in a daze. She began on that day to get a feel of how Haley must have felt every time the phone rang in the middle of the night and called the man she loved off into danger. She understood how she felt, but she would never ever understand what she did.

Emily would fight until her last breath to get Aaron Hotchner home again. Haley gave up too easily, and threw away something very special.

Emily would hang on until the bitter end.


	8. Organisation

**PANOPLY OF FEAR  
**Chapter 8  
Organisation

"_**All we needed was to be organised. Then we could accomplish anything." Mr Ali Adejua - Headmaster**_

"The Fair house burnt down to the ground last night." Emily said on their return to the BAU. "But lucky for us, only to the ground. The basement was left intact."

"They might be good at car chases, but not so good at destroying evidence." Morgan said, still smarting from his last chase. "There was a small laboratory down there, water damaged, but fairly intact."

"Good. Get the stuff to our lab..."

"Already done." Emily said. "Did you get anything at the kids club?"

"It was deserted and locked up. It opens at seven for pre-school child care. I thought you would be best at that, Prentiss. According to the notice board outside, the person who runs and subsidises it is a woman, and my experience is that a woman would be better at getting the information we need."

Emily wearily looked at her watch, hoping for an hour asleep before she left. Six forty five. No chance."I'll get onto it."

Emily left the BAU. Dave reached for the phone. He had driven past Tisha's school earlier. And it was in chaos. No one had been sent in to keep order, and the only force visible inside or out were the armed police at the entrances. Dave had gone down to look, and was upset and angry at what he saw. He called the CDC and asked for Jean Page.

"She's asleep in her room. May I take a message?"

_Lucky Jean! How the hell could she sleep with this going on?_

"I will speak to whoever is running security at the Outbreak school."

"Putting you through sir."

Dave gripped the receiver, fingers turning white.

It was answered on the second ring.

"Who is keeping order inside?" He asked, not quite able to keep the fury out of his tone.

"That's what the teachers are supposed to be doing." The CDC moron replied. Dave wondered if they had a Moron department, and if so, what the entry qualifications were. He had a godson of six who was probably overqualified.

"They are teachers." He shouted. "They teach!"

"No one will volunteer the job, and we won't order anyone in there."

Dave slammed the phone down. Morgan looked over in awe.

"I'm going myself, Derek; this case wasn't so damned urgent. I'm going in to search for the infection site. Did you know they've not even sent anyone in yet?" Dave said, still fuming. "You take over here. We need to follow up on Edward Fair's work schedule, see if he stole the virus, or just the monkey, and how they are doing with the vaccine, or antidote for those for whom the vaccine will be too late." He was thinking of Aaron and Spencer there. There was little doubt in his mind what was happening to them. He tried not to think about it.

"The lab in Fair's home showed no signs of any animals or cages, at least not anything big enough for monkey. He is working somewhere else."

"See if Garcia can come up with any rental laboratory premises, and check with suppliers. He must have bought the equipment from somewhere."

"Unless he stole it. I'll check that too."

"Call me with anything. And I'll call you."

And Rossi was running to the lift.

Rossi would make a good team leader. He was doing the work ordered by the department himself, although he wanted to be looking for his colleagues. And he was 'ordering' the team on the search for Hotch and Reid.

But as good as Dave would be in Aaron's office, no one, least of all Dave, wanted anyone except Aaron in there for a long time yet.

He called the CDC.

-0-0-0-

Dave parked as close to the school as he could get. There were hundreds of crying and hysterical parents at the gates demanding their kids, and the enforcement officers at the gate were in danger of being trampled, guns or not. Dave pushed his way towards the front, waving his ID.

"A Fed!" yelled someone. "Make him tell us!"

Somebody grabbed his arm, and pulled him round. "When can we have our kids back?" the man shouted in his face.

Someone else pulled him another way and tried to ask him something. Then he felt a fist in his eye, and he staggered against the crowd pressing in on him. Another shove, and he stepped back; a fist to the stomach, and he was down.

_I can't believe this; I'm going to be trampled to death by these people I'm here to help..._

And he likely would have been if one of the enforcement officers hadn't seen what was happening and hadn't fired his gun over their heads. The crowd backed off, and left off hitting Rossi. He slowly climbed to his feet, shaking with shock. He noticed a few embarrassed expressions on the faces around him.

The crowd parted and he limped to the front. Somewhere in the fracas he'd been injured in his groin again – kicked or trodden on, he wasn't sure - but he was sure he was hurting again. Each step was agony.

When he got to the front, he was helped to stand on a box that contained food for the officers, and he faced the crowd.

"We'll pretend that didn't happen, shall we?" A few sheepish nods. "I have come here to try to get some order established in the school, and to find out what's going on. Please wait patiently. I know it is hard, and I will do my best."

He got off the box with the help of one of the officers, and to his amazement, the crowd began to cheer and clap.

-0-0-0-

Aaron hadn't moved for about half an hour. Reid couldn't even hear him breathing. The last gasp for breath he had heard had been ten minutes ago, and Reid had tears running down his face. He thought Hotch might have died while he sat and did nothing. The IV's were empty. Whatever they had contained was now circulating in Aaron's blood stream.

"Aaron, if you can hear me, please move, or something, just to let me know you are alive!" He pulled against the plastic bonds again. They had restrained his wrists with the backs of his hands together, palms out, so that the cuffs were digging into the soft skin of his inner wrists. He realised that he could cut his artery on the knife like edges of the ties, and bleed to death. He tried to turn his hands around, but the cuffs just dug deeper. He rubbed them up and down the pillar he was tied to. If he could just weaken them a bit, maybe...

He heard a groan from Hotch.

"I'm still here, Aaron. You aren't alone."

Aaron turned his head towards Spencer.

His nose was streaming, and saliva was running from the corner of his mouth. The lips that Reid had so long wanted to kiss were dry and cracked. Drops of blood had dried on them. His eyes streamed tears across his nose and onto his lips. Reid noticed there were tear drops on his closed lashes and on his chin. His face glistened with fevered sweat, and his jaw shook as he shivered.

It had started.

"Vaccine ...didn't work..." he said, so softly, Reid only just caught it. "Don't c-come ...near me..."

"Aaron, I can't get to you! I am so sorry, I can't help you. Please, keep breathing, keep talking to me." Reid felt desperate. He just wanted to free him now, and hold him as he died. The thought that he could die cramped and tortured hurt him more than any wound. This cut to his heart would be open and bleeding forever.

"Please, Aaron, please don't die! I love you, and Emily loves you." Spencer was crying now, unable to stop it. "Aaron, you are loved too much to die!"

The only response was Aaron sneezing and coughing, and a soft sigh. He was dying, and Spencer could do nothing to help him.

-0-0-0-

As Dave limped through the school, he just saw people crying and children fighting and running and generally doing what three hundred underprivileged kids do unsupervised. He was surprised that things weren't a lot worse. But it had to be organised.

He went to the head teacher's office.

'Mr A Adejua Headmaster' was written on a plaque on the door. Mr Adejua wasn't there.

He found the public address system.

First he rang the school bell to get their attention, then he spoke.

"My name is Special Agent David Rossi with the FBI, and I am here to help you. I ask please that everyone in the building, teachers, students, parents, and anyone else, to meet in the school hall in fifteen minutes. I will see you then and answer any questions. Thank you."

He closed the contact, and rested his head on the desk. There was a growing patch of blood on the front of his trousers, and he was feeling very sick. He needed the men's room, and an overall. He didn't want to appear injured in front of them.

He took the first aid box off the wall, and found the men's room just opposite the head teacher's office. There was a white lab coat hanging on the back of the door. He took it down and was pleased that it buttoned up to the bottom. He locked himself in a stall and checked himself out. There was some damage but nothing like last time. He longed to have a salt bath; he knew that would relieve the pain, but he had work to do first. He patched himself up wincing in pain; he made his lip bleed biting down to stop himself from crying out.

He buttoned up the lab coat, and went to the hall that he had passed on the way to the office. He was pleased to see that there were a lot of people already there. He went onto the platform, and the teachers and kids quietened down. When the fifteen had passed, he began.

"Thank you for coming. I am Agent Rossi. First I would like all the teachers who have a class to stand around the edge of the hall."

Obediently, eight of the adults separated themselves and went to the edge.

"Next, I would like the children in those classes to join their teachers."

He watched in delighted amazement as they did as he said. He thought it could be his FBI credentials, but whatever the reason, it was working! He took a chair from the back of the platform and sat down.

"Ok!" he said when movement appeared to stop. All the kids were now in eight tight groups.

"Right, I assume you all know why you are here...(nods and murmurs of assent)...All the remaining adults, except the head teacher if he's free, to go to the gymnasium and set up a medical centre there. Are there any medics here?...(five hands went up)...ok, the highest qualified of the five of you to take charge. Is the head of PE here?...(one hand) ... good, I put you in charge of collecting whatever the medics need."

He looked around the room. Everyone seemed happy with their 'orders'. No one had questioned his authority. They were simply glad someone was taking charge.

"Any questions?"

Several hands went up. He picked one.

"How long do we have to stay here?"

"I can't tell you that. We have to find out what the incubation period is for this particular virus. The CDC is working on this now (_I hope_!) Any more questions?"

Two hands. Dave picked one. "What are the symptoms, and what do we do if we get sick?"

"It's like the 'flu. If anyone get's sick, go to the gym and they will help you there. Anyone else? No? Ok, teachers take your classes as usual. I'll be back here at four to organise the night. Thank you."

He walked slowly off the platform through the side door. He managed to get out of the view of the staff and pupils before the pain got too much and he fainted at the top of the steps leading down to the corridor.


	9. Fading Hope

**PANOPLY OF FEAR  
**Chapter 9  
Fading Hopes

"_**Never give up; never surrender." – Commander Peter Quincy Taggart**_

"There hasn't been anything particularly unusual ordered from biochemical suppliers in the last month, except this one." Garcia said. She was on the laptop talking to Morgan. "Animal cages, ordered from Biochem Supplies three weeks ago."

"Why is this unusual, Baby Girl?" Morgan asked. "Isn't that a normal purchase?"

"These were a duplicate order. They had already delivered the same order to CDC in Atlanta. Then an identical order came through, not invoiced, but paid for in person with cash."

"And where was the delivery for?"

"That was the other odd aspect. It was a private house."

"Let me guess." Morgan said grimly. And he reeled off the address of the smouldering ruins he had visited earlier. "Damn. That gets us precisely no-where."

"What can I do now?"

"Rental labs or disused places where Fair could be working." He answered. "See if you can come up with anything."

"On it, Honey-Bun." And she was gone.

-0-0-0-

Emily pulled up outside the scruffy little building that was a lifeline for so many families. Already there were little kids in the playground, and harassed parents running off to work. She rang the bell on the security gate, and a pleasant looking middle aged lady came out and asked who she was.

"I know it's official, 'cos you don't have a kid with you." She said, not unpleasantly.

"Emily Prentiss, FBI. I'm investigating the death of one of your children."

"Ah yes. Little Tish." She said, opening the gate. "Such a shame. Lovely kid."

Emily went in and the gate was locked behind her. "You have a helper here, Chloe Fair. Was she close to Tisha?"'

"Well, not usually, except the last few times she came, they seemed to develop a bond."

"Is that not normal in a place like this?" Emily said, surprised.

"For most workers here, I'd say yes." She said. "But Chloe, although she worked hard, I thought at first she was ...erm... well, racist."

"Why did you think that?"

"Well, she wouldn't touch the children, even if they tried to hug her. A lot of these kids are deprived at the most basic level you know. She pushed them away, physically, as well as mentally. Then suddenly it changed, and she sought Tisha out for special attention."

"Is Chloe in today?" Emily asked.

"No. She hasn't been back since Tisha died."

"And what were her duties here?"

"Mostly in the kitchens. She helped to prep the snacks and drinks for the kids. Come on, let me show you."

Emily followed her into the building.

-0-0-0-

Morgan called Dave, but his phone rang and rang, eventually going to voicemail. He was surprised that Dave hadn't called him yet, and thought he might be in a meeting with someone. But he wasn't convinced. He had a nasty feeling about it. Rossi always answered his phone, once he learned how to. He called the head teacher, Mr Adejua. This time the call was answered.

"I am trying to locate Agent Rossi. He was coming to the school to try to restore order."

"He did." Adejua said. "He's got everyone organised. He's amazing."

"He is also missing. He's not answering his phone. Would you mind looking for him please?"

"Yes certainly. I have your number, I'll call you back."

Morgan put the phone down. He was feeling very... well, almost scared. Three agents missing now. He looked at the phone, willing to ring. When it did, he almost jumped out of his skin. He snatched the receiver up.

"Morgan!"

"Hey, Cool Angel. Got a list of those labs for you. Faxing them over now to the hotel fax... Are you ok?"

"Yeah, Babes. Thank you." He put down the handset with a sigh.

"What was all that about?" Emily said. She had just got back from the kids club.

"Dave's not answering his phone."

"Oh no!" She sank into the nearest chair.

-0-0-0-

Reid could hear Aaron's bubbly breathing and horrible coughing. After each coughing fit his breathing seemed weaker. Spence knew what symptoms would show up next. He heard a shuddering gasp from his friend, and he fought harder to free himself.

Blood was running from Aaron's mouth and nose, splashing thickly into the pool of vomit and fluids he was kneeling in. He could feel his life draining away with each drop of blood as if his life itself was pouring out. He opened his eyes and turned his head. The bright light in the lab shone on the blood that was running from the corners of his eyes.

"Good bye, Spence... love you..." and his head dropped forward, and he was still.

_Oh god...oh god...oh god..._

"No!" Reid screamed! "No Aaron!...Wake up!" and Spencer's anguished cries echoed around the brightly lit lab.

-0-0-0-

Adejua went to the hall and onto the stage. He saw the chair that the Agent had been sitting on, and the drops of blood leading towards the stage door. He went to the door and opened it and turned the light on.

Dave was lying towards the bottom of the stairs, prone, with his head against the door to the corridor. Adejua ran down to him. He was out cold, but he thought there was a pulse. Without moving him, he opened the door and went to his office. On the PA system, he called a medic, then he called Morgan back.

Morgan was relieved that Dave wasn't another abductee, but upset that he was now hurt. Adejua told him that there was a lot of blood, which news didn't quell Morgan's anxiety.

"We have medics here, Agent. I'm not sure that they will allow Agent Rossi out of the school now."

"We think we have found the source of the infection, Mr Adejua. And it's not in the school. Please tell Agent Rossi as soon as you can."

"You don't know how relieved that makes me." Adejua said.

"I have an idea!"said Morgan

"I must go now, and take over what your agent started. May I announce the news about the source of the outbreak?"

"Give us a little longer, please, but you can tell them there will be news by the end of the day."

"Marvellous!" Adejua said. "I will speak to you soon when I have news on your Agent." Adejua put down the phone and went back out of his office.

Two medics were carrying an unconscious Rossi out into the corridor. "We'll take him to the first aid room rather than the gym." One said to Adejua. "It will be quieter in there."

One of the medics' pagers bleeped. "We have to go." He said, and they carried Dave into the first aid room.

-0-0-0-

"Aaron, please!" but he knew there would be no response. The bleeding had started. Spencer pulled himself up onto his feet, and frantically rubbed the tie against the pillar. He could feel the plastic weakening, and with a final tug, it snapped, and Reid fell forwards onto the floor.

He crawled to Aaron, ignoring the bloody hand prints he was leaving in his wake. His wrists were bleeding, but it wasn't arterial, so it didn't matter.

He reached the cage.

"I'm here, Aaron. I am going to get you out f there."

He stood up and began searching the lab. He found a pair of scissors and a wire cutter. He returned to his friend.

"Aaron, I am going to take out the IV's. I will try not to hurt you."

Very carefully, he slid the needles from his elbows. Aaron didn't flinch.

"I am cutting the ties."

"Go away, Reid... I order... you... to go..."

His faint words were punctuated with coughing and groans of pain and failure. Reid ignored him and cut the ties. Aaron's arms fell away from the top of the Cage and he cried out as the muscles protested.

"Aaron, I am going to get you out of there." He said. "I have some cutters here; I am going to remove the top of the cage."

Slowly and carefully, he snipped the metal where the sides were welded to the base. The wire cutters weren't really strong enough, but using all his strength, and some extra that he called up from deep within him, he cut along the edge, freeing the base from the top. When this was done, he carefully slid the cage off Aaron's cramped body and threw it to one side

Then he wrapped his arms around Aaron and held him.

Aaron couldn't move. The only sign of life was the thick bloody cough. Aaron was still in the same position, and he weakly tried to pull away.

"Don't... t-touch me... Reid go ..."

Reid held him harder, and ran his fingers through Aaron's thick dark hair.

"Aaron, I need to find a phone. Please, I have to lay you down."

Tenderly, gently, Spencer laid Aaron down on his side. He still hadn't moved from the position he had been forced into over two days ago. Reid looked around for something to cover him with. His body was cold and clammy, but he was sweating profusely. He saw Aaron's jacket thrown in the corner. He picked it up, and there was a phone in his pocket. He tried switching it on. There was barely enough battery left to light the screen.

He wrote a text message for Morgan.

_morgan this is reid on hotch's phone please come quickly will activate gps battery low_

He pressed 'send' and checked that the GPS was enabled, and took the jacket back to Aaron.

Carefully, Reid pulled him to himself, his arms around his shaking bloody body. He noticed almost black blood from his ears now, and his eyes were crying tears of blood. Aaron tried to pull away, but it was a feeble gesture, and one which Spencer ignored. He felt the warmth of Aaron's blood under his hands, and as their blood mixed on his wrists, Spencer knew that he would be next to die.

But to leave Aaron to die alone, and not hold him and show him how much he was loved would have been far worse.

"Don't try to push me away, Aaron, because I won't leave you. Don't waist your energy.

Aaron's legs were still folded under him. Spencer saw that along his shins from his knees to the tops of his feet, there were sores, inflamed and weeping, where he had been kneeling in his own mess for two days. He wondered if they would leave scars. He still would not believe that Aaron was going to die. He remembered the statistics: Just over ninety percent fatal. That meant almost ten percent survival.

He clung to this hope, that Aaron might be of the ten percent. His immune system was possibly enhanced by the antibodies from Maureen.

Spencer looked up at the monkey. He hadn't heard the creature chattering for a while.

The monkey was lying along the front edge of her cage, eyes open and covered with a misty film. The animal was dead. In reaction, he pulled Aaron closer.

"Morgan's on his way, Aaron. Keep breathing.

He nuzzled Aaron's hair, the smell of blood now dominant over the smell of shampoo and after shave. Reid felt his own tears mix with Aaron's bloody ones, as Reid gently rocked him, and hummed softly.

-0-0-0

"Baby, we are following Hotch's GPS signal." Morgan said. "Please, follow it too, just in case. Emily will call you, so stay in touch. This could be our last chance to find them."

"I'll be with you every step, don't worry."

Emily and Morgan hurried down to the car park to an SUV. Emily held both her phone and Morgan's. Hers was connected to Garcia, on speaker, and Morgan's showed the GPS leading them to Aaron and Spencer. They drove up the ramp into the traffic, leaving rubber on the tarmac. Morgan drove like a maniac through the streets. It was nine am, and the roads were busy with the tail end of the rush hour traffic. The signal on the GPS was strong, and leading them out of town, south towards Fredericksburg. Just past the forest park, they turned right off the main road.

And the GPS stopped.

"Where's the signal, Garcia? What happened?"

"Something has happened at their end, Emily. Thier phone has either run out of battery or it's been destroyed. I cannot tell you where to go now. I have no idea."

Morgan stopped the car and put his head on the steering wheel.

Not so many miles away, Spencer looked at the smashed phone on the floor, and felt his hopes for Aaron fade as the signal died.

He gripped him tighter, and continued to rock him, and tried not to communicate his despair to the dying man.


	10. Closer

**PANOPLY OF FEAR  
**Chapter 10  
Closer

"_**Lovers long for the moment when they are able to breathe forth their love for each other, to let their souls blend in a soft whisper." - Soren Kierkegaard**_

The medics laid Dave on the bed in the first aid room. He had a lump on his forehead and he was out cold, but his respiration and pulse were good, so it was just a matter of waiting for him to wake up. The medics checked out his injury and concluded that he passed out with the pain and knocked himself out when he fell. After a few minutes, he began to stir. The medic was on the phone to Morgan.

"He's just coming round now. We think he fell down stairs. Just hold on, he will be able to talk to you."

He checked, and Dave was pushing himself up onto his elbows, pushing the medic away, mumbling things like not wanting to stay lying down and to stop fussing. He swung his legs round and sat on the edge of the bed, and tried not to let them see that his head was spinning.

They were the experts though. They lifted his legs back onto the bed and made him lay down again. He pressed his lips together in annoyance, but he allowed it. He took the phone from the medic.

"The signal was cut off. We were following Hotch's phone GPS, and it suddenly stopped." Morgan said. "So at the moment we are parked at the side of the road, hoping Garcia will be able to extrapolate something from the information we have so far."

"Has she got a list of possible sites?" Dave asked.

"Yes, she's working out a route for us to cover as many as possible." Dave heard him sigh. "We are so close. If we can get Fair quickly, we're hoping to stop any more outbreaks."

"I'm going to try and take a look round for the source of the infection as soon as I can get on my feet."

"I think we've found the source." Morgan said. "A pre school club, where Fair's sister volunteers, was the place where Tisha went every morning. Chloe Fair hasn't gone in today."

"Do we have anything on the incubation time yet?"

"Anything between six and forty eight hours for this particular strain. It is only contagious in the bleeding and coughing phase. I think the school is clear."

Dave was about to say how good that news was, when one of the other medics ran into the first aid room.

"We have two more victims. Mr and Mrs Breno. Tisha's parents."

-0-0-0-

Reid looked up at Edward Fair who had just stamped on the phone. He didn't say anything. Nothing really mattered now. Aaron was dying in his arms, he was infected by his blood, and so he really had nothing he wanted to say.

Fair didn't say anything either. He swung his fist into Spencer's temple and sent him reeling on the floor. But he kept his grip on Hotch. There was no way he would not fight to make his last minutes of life as comfortable as he could. Reid was holding Aaron, lying on the floor.

"I'm still here, Aaron. It's ok."

"It's not ok!" yelled Fair. He pushed his fingers into Reid's hair and lifted him off the floor. Reid looked at his face for the first time and saw that he was breathing air from a tank on his back. Reid was now standing in front of Fair. Aaron was still lying on the floor in smears of his own thick dark blood, and the same blood was on Reid's clothes and skin. There was no doubt in his mind that he was now going to die in the same way as Aaron. His last best hope had been that phone. Reid raised his hands and fought to remove the man's fingers from his hair. Fair let go and stepped back.

"OK, fag! Cuddle him all you want. And when he's dead it will be your turn to try the serum. We will be able to see if it works post infection."

Fair kicked Spencer's knee and he fell to the floor. He looked back up in defiance.

"They will find us, you know. Dead or alive, but they will find us." He said. "And you will be tried and convicted of murder."

Fair smiled.

"Doubt it. They are way too busy." He said. "I need to examine Hotchner now. Let go of him."

He wrenched Reid's hands from Aaron, and pulled Aaron away from him. He pulled the man's limbs straight, and Reid gasped as Aaron screamed as his muscles were stretched from the cramped position they were still in. Bloody tears burst forth from his once beautiful eyes. Blood ran in gouts from his ears and nose, and he coughed blood from his diseased lungs. Reid could see blood soaking the floor beneath his hips and he was saturated with blood from his waist to his knees.

Aaron attempted to open his eyes, but even with them open the blood leaking into his eyes stopped him from seeing.

Fair cut the rest of Aaron's clothes off and turned him over. He took measurements of vital signs and wrote the results down.

"Stinking fag!" He kicked Aaron in the stomach and went to the lab bench across the room and began to work. Aaron groaned softly and coughed blood and tissue onto the floor. Reid crawled to him through the mess on the floor and lay down next to him. He drew Aaron close again, and sat with him. With one arm around him and the other on the back of his head he rocked him and pushed his fingers through his bloody matted hair.

"Keep breathing for me, Hotch. Just keep alive and stay with me..."

And he couldn't say any more because his sobbing was preventing him from speaking coherently. Aaron sighed and pressed his face against Reid's neck.

"Tell... Emily..."

"Tell her what? Hotch, tell her what?"

But Hotch didn't say anything else. Reid felt Aaron's eyelashes flutter against his skin and it made him cry.

-0-0-0-

Emily fidgeted in the passenger's seat, waiting for Garcia to get back. They couldn't be sure that Edward Fair had Aaron, or what he was doing to him. But she was thinking, like Rossi, that he was being used for testing the virus. She had not seen anyone die of it, but she had read the information that had been provided, and she shook inside when she thought Aaron could be dying from it right now.

"Morgan, don't let's sit here, please, there must be some..."

Her phone rang. Garcia was back.

"I've worked out a route for you, downloading it now into your navigation system

"Ok," Morgan said. "Let's go."

He slammed the car into gear and they moved off.

Garcia said there were only two rental places, and they were to the north of Quantico. So they were looking for somewhere disused. They followed her guidance, and before too long they were pulling up outside a high wire fence with 'KEEP OUT' on the gate.

Emily was out of the car almost before it stopped.

-0-0-0-

"Enough of that." Fair said. "Get away from him now."

Reid didn't move. Fair pulled Aaron away by his hair, yanking back his head. Reid let go. It sickened him what this man was doing to Hotch.

"Ok, ok, I'll get away." Reid yelled. "Stop hurting him!"

"He's of no use now." He said. "The vaccine obviously failed. Now I need to see if it works as a cure."

Spencer sat on the floor and looked at Hotch. Hotch opened his eyes and stared back at Reid, and Reid felt he was seeing deep into Aaron's soul. He could see the spark there still, that spark that had enabled Hotch to cling to life in the most horrific circumstances in the past. Spencer prayed that the spark was enough this time to ignite that determination that was uniquely Hotchner. In the midst of this silent communication, Fair stuck a syringe of vaccine in to Reid's arm. Fair took hold of him and pulled him back to the pillar. This time he didn't use plastic. He used Reid's own cuffs. And Hotchner's on his ankles. He didn't do anything with Hotch. In his eyes, he was dead.

"I need you still for this. You should have been in the cage, but you have destroyed that. So, I will be back later to check the progression of the disease.

He took some base line measurements – temperature, pulse, respiration - and left. Reid heard the padlock snap home, and he was alone again with Aaron and his pain.

"Aaron, Can you hear me?"

Reid watched his friend carefully. He saw Aaron flex his fingers.

"Stay with me, Aaron. Morgan and Rossi will be here soon. They won't leave us."

Aaron rolled onto his side and drew his knees up. He looked at Reid and struggled to speak.

"They won't leave us. I can promise you that."

Aaron blinked as more blood flowed from his bleeding eyes. Reid didn't know if he was crying, or whether it was just blood. He kept reminding himself of the ten percent survival rate. But he never read anything about how sick those survivors got. Hotch had organ damage he was sure. The blood had to be coming from somewhere, and when Aaron coughed blood, it was mixed with tissue.

Aaron stretched out his hand to Reid, trembling fingers inches from him, but he couldn't reach for him, his hands in shackles behind him, and his feet cuffed.

"I can't reach you, Aaron. I am so sorry!"

Using both hands, Aaron dragged himself through the blood towards Reid.

_Reid will die now because of me. I want to be touching him...want to show him he is not alone..._

Very slowly, Aaron moved closer to Reid. Reid was not watching; he had his head back and his eyes closed. He looked down when he felt Aaron touching his leg. Gently Aaron rested his head on Reid's lap, and slowly slipped into a pain free unconscious bliss

-0-0-0-

With help, Dave sat up on the bed. "Tell me about Tisha's parents. Where have they been since they started symptoms?"

"They have been alone in one of the offices. They didn't mix with anyone."

"That's good. It's spread by droplet. If they have been isolated, then we shouldn't get any more casualties."

"So they were infected last night?"

"Yes, so it shouldn't stop the quarantine from ending. We will have to wait though. It is the CDC's call, not mine, I'm glad to say." He tried to get up. "I need to address everyone. I need to organise the evening and night for them, and have food brought in."

"I'll do that." Adejua said. He had just come into the room. "I thought of putting a film on for the kids, and getting some take away food. They can sleep in their classrooms, boys and girls separate. There are enough empty rooms. I'll ask for bedding for everyone."

"Sounds good." Rossi said. "It might be best to use the PA."

"Yes. I'll go and start sorting it now." Adejua left the first aid room, glad at being given a task to do. When this hit the papers, and they wanted a hero, he decided that it would be him, not some dego Fed.

-0-0-0-

Emily and Morgan ran back to the car. That one was a waste of time. It was derelict and falling down in places. It wouldn't be safe to work there.

"Ok, where's the next possible?"

"Five miles." Morgan said, gunning the engine. He reached out and touched Emily's arm. "It's ok, Emily. We'll find him."

"Sorry?"

"Hotch. We'll find him for you."

"How...What makes you...erm... ?"

"I'm a profiler, Emily. I've seen the way you look at him. But I'm also sure that Hotch hasn't got a clue, and thinks that you and The Kid are an item. He might be a top profiler, but he can't profile himself!"

"Me and Reid? Why on earth... ?"

"He sees you spending time with him. But that's because you are both in love with him. Am I right?"

Emily nodded. "No wonder you are on the team!"

"Here's the next place." Morgan said, driving into a car park.


	11. Things Ending

**PANOPLY OF FEAR  
**Chapter 11  
Things Ending

_**Peter S. Beagle once said, "Heroes know that things must happen when it is time for them to happen. A quest may not simply be abandoned; unicorns may go unrescued for a long time, but not forever; a happy ending cannot come in the middle of the story."**_

CDC had been at the Kid's Club for the day, and confirmed that that was the source of the outbreak, and had checked out everyone who worked there on the last day that Chloe Fair was in; the day that Tisha Berno died. They were all clear, which was expected since she hadn't showed symptom until she left. There were no traces of the raw virus in the kitchens, but all the same, the place was closed down. Permanently probably. None of the staff was screened; otherwise it was unlikely that Chloe would have been able to volunteer. Putting the kids in danger was the consequence.

"But what alternative do these people have?"

"That is not our problem, Ma'am." Jean Page had said. "All workers, voluntary or otherwise, need to be screened."

"These people need somewhere to take their children." The Club Leader said, tears in her eyes. "We run this club free so that these parents can work."

"As I said, that is not our problem."

"A lot of these women will turn back to prostitution if I have to close the Club. Have you ever been poor? Do you have children?"

"No." Page said, and walked away.

"Bitch!" she muttered under her breath

-0-0-0-

Emily was dazed by what Morgan had said. He knew? And had profiled the three of them perfectly. She got out of the car without saying anything. She unholstered her gun and she and Morgan hurried to the door of the unit.

It was a single prefabricated building that had once been a doctor's surgery. It was securely locked, so Morgan shone his torch through the window.

"Empty." He said. "And no-one has been here for a while."

"Ok." Emily said. "Where next."

They were back in the SUV, Emily driving this time. They had a ten mile drive to the next place. Morgan got the details up on the GPS.

"Disused abortion clinic." Morgan said. "It was smashed up in an anti abortion riot three years ago.The building is still owned by Women's Health Care Inc."

Emily didn't say anything. Morgan could see the strain on her face as she drove towards the next place on Garcia's list. She was never chatty while she was driving, but this silence un-nerved him.

"Speak to me Emily." He said, turning in his seat to face her. "We will find him. You know that, don't you."

Without taking her eyes off the road, she nodded slightly.

_If we don't find him, I don't know how I would manage to carry on. I still haven't told him..._

She felt tears in her eyes as the barriers she had worked so hard to build started to crumble like weathered sandstone.

-0-0-0-

The message came through at about four. The quarantine was over. Tisha's parents were taken to the CDC hospital, the medics told Dave that they were going to call an ambulance for him.

"No, I'm fine." Rossi limped carefully out of the medical room. "I have work to do."

He waited until the school was clear and while Adejua checked the classrooms, he went out to face the press.

As the microphones surged forwards, he took a step back, remembering what happened last time. He raised his hands as they all shouted at once. They quietened down as they realised that Rossi was going to give a press release.

"The quarantine is now over." He began. "Everyone is clear except two adults, the names of whom will be released after the families have been informed."

"What about the ones that started it?"

"We have established that the school is not the Hot zone. The actual Hot zone has been dealt with, and the FBI is closing in on the terrorists responsible."

"Where is the Hot zone?"

"There will be another press release later, the time to be announced."

He turned and walked away. He felt nervous with his back to the crowd, and was glad when he had reached his car and got in. He called Morgan.

"We have reached the third place. We are going to check it out now."

"Keep the phone open, Derek. I'm coming over to back you up."

He cut the call before Morgan could protest, and drove through the mob of journalists and parents. He just wanted to get away from the school as quickly as possible.

-0-0-0-

Edward Fair sat in his car and ate the sandwich he had brought with him. It occurred to him that he hadn't given either of his prisoners anything to eat. But there again, it would have been a waste as it turned out. He was disappointed that the vaccine hadn't worked. He had wanted to get his team vaccinated before the next outbreak. He was going to have to get another test subject. But he also needed to develop a new vaccine.

He needed some fresh Hotchner blood.

He finished the sandwich, brushed the crumbs off his hands and returned to the clinic building.

An abortion clinic. It broke his heart when he thought of all those white babies being murdered here. Very few black ones. That was how they were taking over the country. He needed to change the status quo; he had to win the country back for the white race.

With determination in his heart, he slipped the key into the padlock.

-0-0-0-

Spencer was rocking. It was difficult, but it was the only comfort he could give. He sang softly to Aaron, who hadn't moved since he crawled onto his lap. His head was starting to ache, and he hoped it was stress and not the first symptoms of Ebola. He wanted his hands free so that he could embrace Aaron and his voice was cracked with emotion. He couldn't see Aaron's chest move, or feel his heartbeat any more.

_If he dies here on my lap, how will I ever live after today? How can I ever love and breathe and live?_

He knew that he couldn't. His life was over. There was nothing left for him now Aaron was dead.

He hung his head and cried; his tears fell onto Aaron's upturned face, mixing with the fresh blood weeping from his eyes...

_...those eyes..._

He lifted his head as he heard the padlock open. He turned towards the door. It was Fair returning.

He came over to Reid and Hotch. "What the hell is going on here?" He bent down and pulled Hotch away from Reid by his leg. Hotch's head hit the floor with a sickening crunch and Fair dragged him away. "You some kind of pervert?"

He kicked Spencer hard in the side just below his rib cage, He made a sound as air left his lungs, and he bent forwards.

"Do you enjoy hurting people?" Reid gasped.

"Not usually, but perverts are different. You two were lovers, weren't you?"

"We weren't. We never would have been." Reid said looking up with tear filled eyes.

Edward Fair smiled. "But you wanted him. Maybe now he's dead you can have him."

Reid blinked in shock. "If you think...?"

"You will do as you are told. My family will be here soon. I think you could entertain us before you die. And if you don't, out of gratitude for your life, you will want to do everything you can to make us happy."

"I will n-not violate him." Reid stammered, still not believing what he was being told to do. "I refuse to hurt him more than he is already."

Fair stooped down and grabbed Spencer's jaw and pulled his face towards his. "I think you will." And he kissed Spencer on the mouth, holding him by the back of his head. When at last he released him, Spencer gasped for breath, coughing and gagging. He leaned to the side and threw up on the floor.

"Do what you want to me." He said. "I will not violate Hotchner. He is too important to me. I would never hurt him."

"We'll see." He said, and went to his bench where he was working earlier. He picked up a syringe, and a needle off the floor. Pushing the needle in place, he knelt beside Aaron.

"I need arterial blood." He said, and stuck the needle into Aaron's Femoral artery. Spencer watched for any reaction from Aaron, and saw him flinch as the needle stuck home. He watched the thick diseased blood flow into the syringe. Fair pulled the needle from the skin, and a few drops of blood ran down the inside of Aaron's leg and onto the floor. But Reid wasn't watching that. All he could think about was the tiny flinching movement Hotch had made when the needle was stuck into him.

He was still alive. Weak, but alive.

Fair walked to the bench, and emptied the blood from the syringe into a glass container.

He put the container into a haemolyser, and pressed a button.

Reid called to Aaron, whispered his name, pleaded with him to acknowledge him. He watched the body of his friend, willing him to move, to live, but there was no response to his voice.

"If you can hear me, Hotch, I need you to keep going, to live..."

There was nothing for a minute or two, the only sound being that of Edward Fair working on the other side of the room. Then Aaron coughed.

It was an awful sound, bloody and thick, and Aaron coughed blood in clots onto the ground. Reid prayed that this was not the death throes of his friend; he needed this man to live more than anything else. His own heart seemed to have stopped beating.

"Aaron, please live..."

The sound of the door opening again, and Reid froze.

"Hey! Eddie!" Chloe called. "What do you have for us?"

Kay and Neil followed her in, but they both sat down. They didn't say anything, just sat as if they were waiting for something.

Edward smiled hello at his little sister, and hugged her.

"I thought we could have some entertainment with the Doctor over there, and the corpse. Seems they were lovers!"

"Really? So what is the entertainment, Bro?"

"You'll see!" He called to the other two. "Hey, how about some fun?"

He went and knelt beside Reid. "Now remember what you need to do to save your life. " He said. "We start now."

He unlocked the cuffs around his wrist, and pulled him up so that he was standing in front of him. Then he pushed Reid towards Aaron. Reid pretended to resist, but allowed himself to be dragged to Aaron's side. He was pushed down to his knees next to him.

He bent down and touched Aaron, and whispered to him, "Aaron, I'm going to get you out of here." He gently lifted Aaron and turned him onto his front. He thought he heard a weak cry of protest. He knew what Reid was going to do. Aaron's hand shook as he tried to catch Spencer's. He moved out of his reach. He didn't want them to know Aaron was still living.

He looked up at Fair. "I need my feet free if you want me to do this."

Fair stood up from where he was sitting with Chloe, Kay and Neil. Reid was pale and looked beaten. That was exactly what he wanted. Soon the new vaccine crystals would be ready, and phase two would start. He smiled as he bent down and removed the cuffs from Reid's ankles.

Before he could move away, Reid kicked him in the face and ran.

The door was still open, and he ran towards it. Fair was on his feet in a second. Reid heard the sound of a gun cocking. He hesitated and turned. Fair was pressing the Hotch's gun into his neck.

"You move, he's dead."

"He can't be any more dead than he is already." Reid said. "How is shooting a dead body going to make me do what you want?" In side he shook with fear. He was gambling Hotch's life, and he wasn't sure of the odds in this game. "I'm leaving."

He turned back to the door. Freedom was inches from him.

The gun fired.

He had time to say sorry in his heart for Hotch, for losing the gamble. But then the sudden jar between hid shoulder blades, and his legs folded under him, and his last thought before the world went black was, "You're going to be ok, Hotch. This will be worth it..."

...and all knowledge and devising slipped away and he sunk towards the welcoming arms of death.


	12. Back off the Road Again

**A/N Panic Button has got a mafis nose. It used to look like a little Malteser, now it looks like a Ferreo Rocher. LOL**

**PANOPLY OF FEAR  
**Chapter 12  
Back off the Road Again

_**  
Quarantine Meaning and Definition**_

_**(n.)**__** Specifically, the term, originally of forty days, during which a ship arriving in port, and suspected of being infected a malignant contagious disease, is obliged to forbear all intercourse with the shore; hence, such restraint or inhibition of intercourse; also, the place where infected or prohibited vessels are stationed. **_

_**(v. t.)**__** To compel to remain at a distance, or in a given place, without intercourse, when suspected of having contagious disease; to put under, or in, quarantine. **_

It was as Emily swung the car door closed that she heard the gunfire.

Just one shot.

But it was enough.

Morgan instantly crouched into a fighting stance, and Emily pulled her gun. They ran bent over to the door in front of them. Standing with their backs to the wall either side of the door, Morgan pointed to a car, parked round the corner of the building. It was clean, obviously not been there long.

"The UnSub's car." He whispered. He reached out and pushed the door. It opened into a dusty corridor with an enclosed reception area on the right. There were footprints in the dust, disturbed in places as if there'd been a struggle. In silence they crept along the passage. One door from the end had sounds of a TV behind it. It was slightly open; Emily carefully pushed it all the way open. The room was empty, although until recently there had been someone there; there were cups of coffee on the table, and the remains of a meal.

Emily backed out, and followed Morgan to the last door. It was closed, but it had been reinforced and an open padlock hung from a heavy duty hasp. Emily stood back to back with Morgan. He opened the door.

"FBI! Freeze!"

Two young people of about eighteen stopped dead in their tracks. An older woman began to stand. Morgan gestured with her gun for her to sit down. She sat back into the lab stool. Morgan pushed the other two kids over to sit by her. He cuffed them together, and to the bench. Glancing back at them, ensuring they were held, he went to Spencer's side.

The forth person was holding a gun to Hotchner's head.

Emily felt sick. "Get away from him you sick bastard!"

"Guess it's whoever is the fastest, girly. Take your best shot."

Emily saw the man's trigger finger twitch. She squeezed the trigger and the two shots sounded as one. Edward fell back with a hole in his chest, Aaron's gun fell to the ground.

Aaron was lying prone, his arms twisted un-naturally at his side. His head turned to the side, blood ran from his eyes and nose; his inner arms bruised and bleeding from the removed IV's and blood sprayed from a fresh shoulder wound in his back.

Edward wasn't moving. She could hear the women screaming now as the sound of the shots faded. She kicked the gun away from Fair, and knelt by Hotch. gently she touched his arm. To her amazement, Aaron spoke to her.

"Don't... t-touch ...me."

"Shh, Aaron, You are safe now. I've got you."

Aaron tried to use his remaining strength to pull away from her, but she wouldn't go

"Don't touch...m-me!"

Emily called the emergency services, and pulled gloves on. She held her hand against the gun shot wound in her boss's back.

"Aaron, please, don't worry..." Emily gently drew Aaron to herself, still with her hand stopping the bleeding from his back. He had stopped reacting to her. His breathing was shallow and irregular. She counted his respiration as six. She looked across at Morgan.

"Is he ok?" he said.

"I don't know." She said quietly. "He's stopped responding."

"Emergency services are coming." Morgan reassured her. "Try to keep him talking."

"How's Spencer?"

"Unconscious. Bullet in the middle of his back. I just pray it missed his spine."

"Oh god." Emily curled her hand around the back of Aaron's head, feeling where the skin had broken, and the blood was still running into his hair. The photographs of the disease were nothing compared to seeing the man she loved suffering in this way. It was breaking her heart.

"Aaron, I need to tell you something." She whispered. "I need to be with you. I have a lot to tell you. As soon as you are better... " She glanced over at Morgan. It was no secret from him; he probably knew what her true feelings were before she did.

Sirens in the distance, the two women on the settee crying, the man keeping aloof but shaking.

She spoke to Aaron, "Emergency services are coming, Sweetheart. I can hear them. Hold on now, hold on..."

Morgan gently laid Spencer down on the floor.

"I'm going out to meet the medics." He said, and ran down the passage, no longer being careful not to preserve the footprints in the dust. He burst out of the door as the ambulance pulled up. The medics jumped down from the cab and began to don hazmat suits.

"Have you been in contact with the victims?" one asked when Morgan told them who he was.

"Yes, and Agent Prentiss too. We wore protective gloves."

"I am afraid that isn't enough." He said. "You will both need to be quarantined. Please wait here while we bring the injured outside."

They went into the clinic with two gurneys. Morgan followed them on. He wasn't about to take orders from a medic.

He watched as the suited men pulled Emily away from Hotch. Things moved in slow motion as they lifted him onto a gurney and intubated him, forcing air into what was left of his lungs. The tube was attached to oxygen.

Reid was lifted onto the second gurney. He was breathing ok, but they were worried about a lack of response to nerve function in his feet. Morgan called out to them.

"He had bad injuries to his left foot three years back." He said. "You could be getting false results."

One of the medics moved around the gurney and tested his right foot.

Still nothing.

"We need to get him to theatre. The bullet could be causing damage to the nerve."

They rushed him out of the lab, while the other two worked on Aaron. Things were not looking good. They put pads on his eyes and ears to prevent further blood loss. His skin was white and the deep red of the blood stood out in stark contrast. Emily stepped forwards and took his hand, cold and limp.

_Aaron, please get better Baby. We cold have such a future, please, live for those who love you..._

"What is the prognosis?" Emily asked. "Will he be ok?"

She didn't want to ask. She didn't want to hear the answer unless it was positive. The medic fixing the oxygen level looked at her and shook his head gently.

"It's not good, Agent. We will do what we can, but he is very poorly."

Emily stood by him and stroked his face. "Get better, Sweetheart." She murmured, and as Aaron's cold hand tightened around hers, a tear fell from her eyes.

-0-0-0-

Dave pulled up in his car just as the first ambulance drove off, lights flashing, sirens wailing. He left the car door open and hurried into the building. If he could run, he would have. As it was, his best was a slow painful limp.

He stood at the door and watched for a minute or two, watching them compress Hotchner's chest above his heart. The last thing to be affected is the heart, thought Rossi. And they were trying to start it.

He limped forward to his friend, and put his arm around Emily's shoulder.

"He's strong, Emily. If anyone can make it, he can."

Emily continued to smooth Aaron's hair and hold his hand. Gently, softly, she spoke to Aaron, telling him how she felt, telling him he needed to live for her, for Spencer, and most of all, for Jack.

"Come away, Emily, let them do their jobs."

She looked at Dave. "I can't. I don't want to be away from him." She turned back to Aaron. "He could die. He can't be alone."

David didn't say anything else. He stood with his arm around her, hoping fervently that he would live. He didn't want to lead the team. He never wanted to."

"He has a pulse..."

They carried Aaron out into the second ambulance. Emily and Dave said they would follow it back to the hospital in the SUV, where they would join Morgan in a negative pressure room until it could be certain that they were not infected.

Emily drove them back. She kept the ambulance in sight all the way back to the hospital. It was as if Aaron was in her sights all the time she could see the ambulance. When she had to wait at lights, and the ambulance turned right up ahead, she felt a panic set in. Desperately she tried to rebuild the wrecked compartment walls that had so devastatingly crashed down. When the lights changed, she broke the speed limit to catch up with the ambulance.

Rossi held onto the dash board as the car screamed around the corner. The gesture was not lost on Emily. When she had turned the corner, and the ambulance was in sight again, she slowed. Rossi leaned back on the head rest, the terror slowly fading from his eyes.

"Sorry." She said, and meant it. "I need to keep up with the ambulance."

"Emily, he won't live or die depending on whether you keep up or not. Just trust them to do their best."

-0-0-0-

The gunshot to Aaron's back needed attention, the surgeon, triple gloved and with an independent air supply, removed the bullet and stitched up the damage. He was shocked at the scarring to the man's back, and wondered at his strength to recover from such injuries to leave scars like that. His shoulder's were repositioned, and bandaged tightly. But the fever he had to fight for himself. They put him on erythropoietin therapy to try to replace the lost blood, and antibiotic cocktail to prevent secondary infection.

The bullet in Reid's back was touching his spinal cord. The doctors didn't want to operate. One tiny mistake would leave Spencer in a wheel chair. Leaving it there was not an option. A jolt or fall could move the bullet and cause even more damage. His career would be over. The needed a top neuro-surgeon. The best was in Chicago. Doctor Aaron Shutt was seconded to Atlanta from Chicago Hope Hospital, the countries best, to operate on Reid. He removed the bullet without damage, and he was confident that he would be ok. He brought with him Billy Kronk to assist. The Atlanta doctors weren't happy, but they had to bow to the superior knowledge and experience of the Chicago doctors.

Emily wanted to sit with Hotch, but they wouldn't allow it. The negative pressure rooms were divided up by glass. Reid and Hotch in one room, Dave, Derek and Emily in the adjoining room. All they could do was watch their colleagues. They couldn't talk to them or touch them. Emily and Rossi sat and talked for most of the time. Dave told her of the trip he had planned in just over two weeks when he was going to take Reid and Aaron to Italy to explore Dave's roots in Napoli.

"It would be nice if you could come too, Emily. I think both of them are going to need care. It will be like convalescence. I will ok it with Erin Strauss if you would like to join us."

Emily smiled at him. She couldn't think of anything better.

-0-0-0-

END

**A/N (2) – OK I know there are millions of loose ends here to tie up. But the next story is a sequel, and all loose ends will be tied up there. 8¬) **


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